Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

STEP SIX

with all the honesty that we can summon, is to try to have
it. Even then the best of us will discover to our dismay that
there is always a sticking point, a point at which we say,
"No, I can't give this up yet." And we shall often tread on
even more dangerous ground when we cry, "This I will nev-
er give up!" Such is the power of our instincts to overreach
themselves. No matter how far we have progressed, desires
will always be found which oppose the grace of God.

Some who feel they have done well may dispute this, so
let's try to think it through a little further. Practically every-
body wishes to be rid of his most glaring and destructive
handicaps. No one wants to be so proud that he is scorned
as a braggart, nor so greedy that he is labeled a thief. No
one wants to be angry enough to murder, lustful enough to
rape, gluttonous enough to ruin his health. No one wants
to be agonized by the chronic pain of envy or to be para-
lyzed by sloth. Of course, most human beings don't suffer
these defects at these rock-bottom levels.

We who have escaped these extremes are apt to congrat-
ulate ourselves. Yet can we? After all, hasn't it been self-
interest, pure and simple, that has enabled most of us to
escape? Not much spiritual effort is involved in avoiding
excesses which will bring us punishment anyway. But when
we face up to the less violent aspects of these very same
defects, then where do we stand?

What we must recognize now is that we exult in some of
our defects. We really love them. Who, for example, doesn't
like to feel just a little superior to the next fellow, or even
quite a lot superior? Isn't it true that we like to let greed
masquerade as ambition? To think of liking lust seems im-