Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

STEP TWO

At this juncture, his A.A. sponsor usually laughs. This,
the newcomer thinks, is just about the last straw. This is
the beginning of the end. And so it is: the beginning of
the end of his old life, and the beginning of his emergence
into a new one. His sponsor probably says, "Take it easy.
The hoop you have to jump through is a lot wider than you
think. At least I've found it so. So did a friend of mine who
was a one-time vice-president of the American Atheist So-
ciety, but he got through with room to spare."

"Well," says the newcomer, "I know you're telling me the
truth. It's no doubt a fact that A.A. is full of people who
once believed as I do. But just how, in these circumstances,
does a fellow ‘take it easy'? That's what I want to know."

"That," agrees the sponsor, "is a very good question in-
deed. I think I can tell you exactly how to relax. You won't
have to work at it very hard, either. Listen, if you will, to
these three statements. First, Alcoholics Anonymous does
not demand that you believe anything. All of its Twelve
Steps are but suggestions. Second, to get sober and to stay
sober, you don't have to swallow all of Step Two right now.
Looking back, I find that I took it piecemeal myself. Third,
all you really need is a truly open mind. Just resign from
the debating society and quit bothering yourself with such
deep questions as whether it was the hen or the egg that
came first. Again I say, all you need is the open mind."

The sponsor continues, "Take, for example, my own
case. I had a scientific schooling. Naturally I respected,
venerated, even worshiped science. As a matter of fact, I
still do—all except the worship part. Time after time, my
instructors held up to me the basic principle of all scien-