When I started recovery I thought I knew what I needed and what other people needed. I discovered that was a story I was telling myself, and that I needn't buy into it and the less of the story I carried in my head about what people other think, how other people are and what I think they want of me (or think of me) then the more relaxed I am even in the face of some attitude or belief that I makes no sense to me, or even worse.
My sponsor is not my spiritual guide, but I confide my detailed 4th/5th step work with him- he has shared likewise with me, neither am I his. Getting out the secrets and disreputable details and letting them go has a been a critical step. I found working the steps, as written was good enough for me; assistance via additional material like the 12-and-12 and lots of speaker tapes help me understand what the steps are getting at and how to interpret them in my spiritual tradition. A doctrinaire or literalist approach is one way to do it but not the only way.