The book Twelve Steps
and Twelve Traditions encourages spot-check inventories, a nightly review, and
a periodic housecleaning, say once or twice a year. All three exercises are
regularly termed 'doing a Step Ten'. The short form of Step Ten 'Continued to
take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it' seems to
encapsulate all three, as well.
However, the short form of the Steps (what are printed on
page 59 of the book Alcoholics Anonymous
and what appear on the wall shades or scrolls) are simply handy aides-memoire
and do not attempt to capture every nuance of the Step in question. The
foreword to the Third Edition for instance describes the aide-memoire version of
the Steps as what 'summarise' our programme. Nor does each Step claim for
itself exclusivity over its subject matter.
The long form of the Steps—the AA programme in full—consists
essentially in the content of the basic text section of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The Steps, although
simple, are not simplistic, and overlap in content. Prayer is not limited to
Steps Three, Seven, and Eleven, the ostensible prayer Steps. Prayer is talked
about through the programme, most notably perhaps in Steps Four and Nine. Steps
Four and Nine, performed without a great deal of prayer and meditation, lose
much of their substance and efficacy.
So, what inventories are there in the Big Book?
There is a Step Four inventory, a highly structured,
systematic review of thinking and behaviour, taking as its entry point the emotional
signposts of resentment, fear, and guilt for its three chief inventories. Add
the harms list forming part of Step Four (as implied by page 76), and our
review is complete.
There is a review at the end of the day, to be included as
part of the evening meditation, and itself including prayers to God for
forgiveness and corrective measures. This is set out as part of the meditation
of Step Eleven, in the Big Book. It should be noted that meditation, in the
1930s, denoted chiefly contemplative, concentrated thought.
Then there is Step Ten in the Big Book. This deserves an
essay of its own. Essentially it falls into two halves: developing an awareness
of our own thinking and behaviour in real time, and envisioning and carrying
out God's will in real time, too. A successful application of Step Ten will
result in a shift from being the hapless victim of our lives, pushed and pulled
by emotion and unbridled instinct, to being an observer-meets-actor, with a
permalink to God and an array of mechanisms to keep the show on the right road.
(See http://first164.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/step-ten-line-by-line.html
and http://first164.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/step-ten-and-road-of-happy-destiny.html).
So, if I am following the instructions set out on pages 84–85
of the Big Book, examining what is going on in the moment, etc., I am taking Step
Ten. If I stand back from my life for a few minutes and examine the last
twenty-four hours, I am taking Step Eleven. If I stand even further back and
survey my entire life since the previous systematic review, I am taking Step
Four.
Why are all three necessary? In principle, a perfect Step
Ten will result in no need for a Step Eleven review. In principle, a perfect
Step Eleven review will result in no need for a periodic Step Four.
However, 'No one among us has been able to maintain anything
like perfect adherence to these principles' (Alcoholics Anonymous, 60:2).
These are the three safety nets, therefore, that stop us
from falling back into alcoholism.
Furthermore: driving provides good analogies: Step Ten is
adjusting the steering wheel as we are driving along; the Step Eleven review is
checking the petrol, oil, tyre pressure, etc., cleaning out the detritus that
has built up inside the car, and checking our progress along the map; Step Four
is the annual or semi-annual servicing of the car, which may include large-scale
repairs or even the replacement of the engine.
No amount of steering will re-inflate the tyres or clean the
cup-holders; no amount of changing the oil will replace a dud engine.
The reviews may overlap somewhat in method and substance but
are essentially complementary. A programme that includes only or or two of
these three review methods is incomplete.
Lastly, it does not really matter what you call these
reviews: the main thing is that you do them.