Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

STEP SIX

deed ready to have all such defects taken from them. But
even these people, if they construct a list of still milder
defects, will be obliged to admit that they prefer to hang
on to some of them. Therefore, it seems plain that few of
us can quickly or easily become ready to aim at spiritual
and moral perfection; we want to settle for only as much
perfection as will get us by in life, according, of course, to
our various and sundry ideas of what will get us by. So the
difference between "the boys and the men" is the difference
between striving for a self-determined objective and for the
perfect objective which is of God.

Many will at once ask, "How can we accept the entire
implication of Step Six? Why—that is perfection!" This
sounds like a hard question, but practically speaking, it
isn't. Only Step One, where we made the 100 percent ad-
mission we were powerless over alcohol, can be practiced
with absolute perfection. The remaining eleven Steps state
perfect ideals. They are goals toward which we look, and
the measuring sticks by which we estimate our progress.
Seen in this light, Step Six is still difficult, but not at all
impossible. The only urgent thing is that we make a begin-
ning, and keep trying.

If we would gain any real advantage in the use of this
Step on problems other than alcohol, we shall need to make
a brand new venture into open-mindedness. We shall need
to raise our eyes toward perfection, and be ready to walk in
that direction. It will seldom matter how haltingly we walk.
The only question will be "Are we ready?"

Looking again at those defects we are still unwilling to
give up, we ought to erase the hard-and-fast lines that we