“Having had the experience yourself, you can give him much practical advice.” (Page 96, Big Book)
A while ago, I heard the phrase, ‘working the steps with a sponsor’.
Of course, until one has acquired technical competence, one might well need a sponsor as an overarching presence. The instructions in the book are largely self-explanatory, especially if one has access to a few tapes to listen to, but it’s rare for someone to have the wit and wherewithal to work the whole through themselves, so there’s great utility and no shame in having a sponsor ‘take you through’ until you’ve got the system under your belt.
Once one has acquired competence, however, the time has come to take responsibility for effective step work. A sponsor is still required firstly for confession and secondly for talking through knotty situations, but that’s it. There’s no need to remain an infant, and there’s no need to hunt around for ever more techniques and sponsors to unlock some sort of esoteric knowledge. There’s sometimes a fetishization of sponsorship as a magic gateway to a higher realm. That’s not what it’s there for. It’s there to show you how to use a knife and fork to eat your dinner.