| What are "Spiritual Principles?" |
 Principles are deep fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators. They are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency, beauty and strength through the fabric of life… We can be secure in the knowledge that principles are bigger than people or circumstances, and that thousands of years of history have seen them triumph, time and time again. Even more important, we can be secure in the knowledge that we can validate them in our own lives, by our own experience.” -- Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.” – Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 15 “… to practice these principles in all our affairs.” – Step 12 “… ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” – Tradition 12 Some Important Spiritual Principles
The 12 Spiritual Principles Embodied in the 12 Steps
As we begin to work the 12 Steps, we learn how to practice vital spiritual principles in our lives. In Step 1, for example, we learn how to practice "Honesty" by admitting our powerlessness. In Step 2, we learn how to practice "Hope" -- hope that if we do what others do, we too may gain the sobriety they have -- and so on. By "practicing these principles in all our affairs," the hole in our soul is gradually healed and the obsession to drink is expelled.
Click here for a talk on the "12 Principles Behind the 12 Steps" from Mike R., Biloxi, MS, given at the Central Florida Men's Workshop in Leesburg, FL on Feb. 2, 2019. |