Has anyone one heard this phrase before and if so please correct my version. 12 steps; the first four steps get you right with God. The next four steps get you right with yourself and the last for steps get you right with your fellow man.
I have never heard the steps classified that way and I don't think the steps are otherwise correctly grouped.
Steps 1-3 are the "foundation" steps, but I prefer to call them the "surrender" steps because you "surrender" to your addiction (alcoholism here) in Step 1, then "surrender" to the fact that you cannot fix yourself in Step 2, and then "surrender" to the fact that God or your higher power can fix you in Step 3.
Steps 4-9 clear the wreckage of the past and put your sobriety on stable ground and set the stage for Step 10. They are also generally the most difficult steps.
Steps 10-12 are the "maintenance" steps. Step 10 is doing in principle what you did in Steps 4-9 for the past and applying them to the present so that new baggage doesn't accumulate. Step 11 builds on Steps 2-3, though I believe in the early adoption principle that we don't have to wait until we reach a certain step to adopt some of its principles like waiting until the 10th Step to apologize for a wrong or waiting until the 11th Step to start building a relationship with your higher power, something that comes in handy very early on. Step 12 is the capstone step pulling the other 11 steps all together and directing us to live the principles we have learned every day and to share the program and our sobriety with others.
A.A. has a beginners pamphlet published in Akron, OH. In the introduction, it erroneously indicates that all the steps are equally important and uses the spokes of a wheel as a metaphor. It is common knowledge that you can't work Steps 2-12 until you master Step 1 (as applicable to every addiction you have). So, the metaphor is accurate with Step 1 as the hub, Steps 2-11 radiating outwards as the spokes of a wheel as before, and Step 12 being the wheel itself bringing all the steps together in one strong package that works.
I hope this helps.
Steps 1-3 are the "foundation" steps, but I prefer to call them the "surrender" steps because you "surrender" to your addiction (alcoholism here) in Step 1, then "surrender" to the fact that you cannot fix yourself in Step 2, and then "surrender" to the fact that God or your higher power can fix you in Step 3.
Steps 4-9 clear the wreckage of the past and put your sobriety on stable ground and set the stage for Step 10. They are also generally the most difficult steps.
Steps 10-12 are the "maintenance" steps. Step 10 is doing in principle what you did in Steps 4-9 for the past and applying them to the present so that new baggage doesn't accumulate. Step 11 builds on Steps 2-3, though I believe in the early adoption principle that we don't have to wait until we reach a certain step to adopt some of its principles like waiting until the 10th Step to apologize for a wrong or waiting until the 11th Step to start building a relationship with your higher power, something that comes in handy very early on. Step 12 is the capstone step pulling the other 11 steps all together and directing us to live the principles we have learned every day and to share the program and our sobriety with others.
A.A. has a beginners pamphlet published in Akron, OH. In the introduction, it erroneously indicates that all the steps are equally important and uses the spokes of a wheel as a metaphor. It is common knowledge that you can't work Steps 2-12 until you master Step 1 (as applicable to every addiction you have). So, the metaphor is accurate with Step 1 as the hub, Steps 2-11 radiating outwards as the spokes of a wheel as before, and Step 12 being the wheel itself bringing all the steps together in one strong package that works.
I hope this helps.
