There are several points in the Big Book where it is made explicit what the individual must do to avoid drinking and therefore death. Taken together, these constitute the essence of the AA programme, though other elements are presupposed (Step One) or necessary concomitants (Step Ten). The essence can be captured under six headings.
UNITY
One cannot recover alone. This is true at the beginning but also after many years. People drift, dangerously, and drifters drink.
“But out of this frightening and at first disrupting experience the conviction grew that A.A.’s had to hang together or die separately.” (Foreword to the Second Edition, Big Book)
RESENTMENT
The link between resentment and drinking is clear: resentment leads to separation from God; separation from God means separation from our source of protection.
“It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worthwhile. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.” (Chapter 5, Big Book)
HARMFUL CONDUCT
Lesser known is this item: behaviour that harms others, whether deliberate or unrepentantly permitted, leads to drinking.
“If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. We are not theorizing. These are facts out of our experience.” (Chapter 5, Big Book)
STEP FIVE
Secrecy, specifically lack of confession, likewise.
“The best reason first: If we skip [the fifth] step, we may not overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. … He should realize that we are engaged upon a life-and death errand.” (Chapter 6, Big Book)
STEP NINE
On this point, there are two specific injunctions plus a couple of illustrative stories. The two injunctions concern amends in general and creditors in particular.
“[W]e will never get over drinking until we have done our utmost to straighten out the past. We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished until we do so.” (Chapter 6, Big Book)
“We must lose our fear of creditors no matter how far we have to go, for we are liable to drink if we are afraid to face them.” (Chapter 6, Big Book)
“After consulting with his wife and partner he came to the conclusion that it was better to take those risks than to stand before his Creator guilty of such ruinous slander. He saw that he had to place the outcome in God’s hands or he would soon start drinking again, and all would be lost anyhow. He attended church for the first time in many years. After the sermon, he quietly got up and made an explanation. His action met widespread approval, and today he is one of the most trusted citizens of his town. This all happened years ago.” (Chapter 6, Big Book)
“Some time later, and just as he thought he was getting control of his liquor situation, he went on a roaring bender. For him, this was the spree that ended all sprees. He saw that he would have to face his problems squarely that God might give him mastery. One morning he took the bull by the horns and set out to tell those he feared what his trouble had been. He found himself surprisingly well received, and learned that many knew of his drinking. Stepping into his car, he made the rounds of people he had hurt. He trembled as he went about, for this might mean ruin, particularly to a person in his line of business. At midnight he came home exhausted, but very happy. He has not had a drink since.” (Chapter 11, Big Book)
SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY
The necessity of a spiritual life is arguably less well understood in AA. But even when that fact is acknowledged, the purport is often not understood. Often, prayer and meditation, contemplation, spiritual retreats, and other practices are viewed as the content of the spiritual life. These are not the content but the facilitators; the vessel not the draught. The spiritual life is one of work. The following items are placed in a sequence specifically to illustrate this: the two points of the necessity of a spiritual life for mere survival and the core thereof, namely work with other alcoholics. No work with other alcoholics, no spiritual activity; no spiritual activity, no active relationship with God; no active relationship with God, no mental defence; no mental defence, drinking; drinking, death.
“As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help.” (Chapter 3)
“To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.” (Chapter 4, Big Book)
“Perhaps your husband will make a fair start on the new basis, but just as things are going beautifully he dismays you by coming home drunk. If you are satisfied he really wants to get over drinking, you need not be alarmed. Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases. Your husband will see at once that he must redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive. You need not remind him of his spiritual deficiency—he will know of it.” (Chapter 8, Big Book)
“It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.” (Chapter 6, Big Book)
“Both saw that they must keep spiritually active. One day they called up the head nurse of a local hospital.” (Chapter 11, Big Book)
“For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die.” (Chapter 1, Big Book)
“All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge his spiritual life.” (Chapter 3, Big Book)
“Fred would not believe himself an alcoholic, much less accept a spiritual remedy for his problem.” (Chapter 3, Big Book)
“Though the family does not fully agree with dad’s spiritual activities, they should let him have his head. Even if he displays a certain amount of neglect and irresponsibility towards the family, it is well to let him go as far as he likes in helping other alcoholics.” (Chapter 9, Big Book)
“Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail.” (Chapter 7, Big Book)
“All of us spend much of our spare time in the sort of effort which we are going to describe.” (Chapter 2, Big Book)
“Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.” (Chapter Three, Big Book)