Chapter Five 'honesty' and emergency procedures for newcomers and people in trouble

According to Chapter Five, the people who do not get well are those that cannot be honest with themselves.

At the start of recovery, the honesty required is the honest recognition that one cannot successfully manage one’s own life, in terms both of the addictive process and also in terms of the rest of one’s activities: even if one is superficially successful, the emotional strain and other collateral damage may be great. One cannot serve two masters, so the answer is binary: either one can successfully, consistently, and reliably follow the instructions of one’s own mind or one cannot, and intellect must be placed within the context of a higher power. This is the fundamental honesty that is required. If the conclusion is that one cannot trust oneself, one must place one’s life in the hands of God working through AA. At this point one locks oneself out of the room of active addiction, other insane behaviour, and self-will, and pushes the key under the door. In practice this means that one should initially turn the basic decision-making about the structure of the day over to the wisdom of sound, emotionally healthy, and intelligent friends in AA, who should suggest constructing each day to perform tasks of daily maintenance, to fulfil obligations, and to decorate one’s sober life with pleasant things. All one need do then is follow the actions, waiving the right to deviate from the plan without consultation, to which we defer, and deciding to turn any major ad hoc decisions about one’s life to the process of consultation with others. Of course, with time, this temporary measure will be replaced in full with God-reliance and relegation of consultation largely to a secondary position. Until then, this acts as the line of lights followed along the floor of a smoke-filled aeroplane cabin.


If this course is humbly followed, drinking becomes impossible as one has waived the right to seize the tiller, on the basis of the fundamental act of honesty about who or what is best placed to be in charge of one’s life: one’s own mind or the combination of principle, God, and wise others.