Here are the steps we took, which are suggested ...
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.
Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. Their services are often indispensable in treating a newcomer and in following his case afterward.
Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.
These quotations are indeed from the AA literature. However, it's fascinating how often they get quoted. In fact, there are some in AA who only ever quote these lines.
The devil is surely glad to have a fifth column within AA (fifth column: a group of secret sympathisers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within defence lines or national borders.) Now, the fifth column consists not of the individuals in question but of ego thoughts comfortably housed therein.
Why is this a fifth column:
The references to 'suggestions' are taken by some to mean that the Steps are not required to get well and that anything goes.
The reference to progress not perfection is taken by some to mean that inactivity, deliberate deviation from the programme, or outright rebellion are a perfectly natural part of the programme and can be indulged without consequence.
The references to the outside sources (whether religious or medical) are taken by some to license wholesale abandonment of the programme and the positioning of the individual's centre of gravity outside AA, whether in mindfulness meditation, yoga, or 'therapy'. One does hear people say that the best thing about AA is that it led to and enabled these activities.
Lastly, the reference to 'knowing only a little' is taken by some to mean that we can cheerfully dismiss whatever is in the Big Book and gleefully propagate ideas from non-AA practitioners as a substitute, on the basis that what comes later necessarily represents progress in relation to what comes before (quod non).
All of these quotations do have a rightful place in one's construal of the programme, but they are not the programme itself.