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.
The second of these:
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 harbouring 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)
A jagged, threatening world, I find, cannot be lived in for long. An escape must be sought. All forms of escape start to seem attractive.
Moreover: the more resentful I get, the more wrong I get:
“You know Rosalind. She’s never so righteous as when she is in the wrong.” (Downton Abbey)