“My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs.” (Page 14)
“The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.” (Page 30)
“This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.” (Page 39)
“We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion.” (Page 49)
“With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start.” (Page 58)
“We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable” (Page 76)
“We urge you to try our program” (Page 117)
Yes, the steps are suggested (in other words the authors cannot force us to take them). But it is mistake is to infer that it does not matter whether we take them or that the authors do not care about us.
In contrast to this, certain points are emphasized, re-emphasized, and smashed home; we are begged and urged.
The authors clearly believe that the Steps need to be taken and need to be taken now and would indeed like us to take them.
This is the general sense of the Big Book: both necessity and urgency.
“When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?” (Page 53)