Most people remember 1939 as the year World War II began, but few know that it was also the year that another war was declared -- the war against alcoholism. For in that year, the first copies of "Alcoholics Anonymous" rolled off the press. After prohibition was repealed in 1933, America went on a binge. As liquor flowed into mouths and revenue flowed into the treasury, light flowed out of the chakras of millions of Americans who became alcoholics. In 1935, a small group of alcoholics decided to form Alcoholics Anonymous. Since that time, it has grown to a world membership of over one million. Members follow a 12-step program of recovery based on principles of human conduct found in medicine, psychiatry, and religion.

Recovery from alcoholism, drug addiction or any debilitating and demoralizing habit is a life-long struggle up the path of spiritual transformation. But others who are further along can give a hand up and it is a well-marked path with 12 distinct steps that anyone can follow at his own pace. These steps were first set down in 1939 in the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous," and expounded upon later in "The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions."

Many other groups such as Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc. have used these twelve steps to help their members. There could be a 12-step program for every bad habit under heaven. Why not Gossips Anonymous or Road Warriors Anonymous? While it is helpful to belong to a group, it is not necessary. But what is essential for success is someone you can confide in and call at all hours of the day or night, preferably someone who is ahead of you on the path.

Most people have a weakness or bad habit that has the potential of bringing them to the lowest point in their lives. I call it hitting rock bottom. This experience can be a catalyst for change. Some of the greatest saints, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul, St. Augustine to name a few, were also the biggest sinners before they took the first step on the path. Once your higher Self controls your major weakness through the 12 steps, you can go after others.

The 12 steps are the distillation of the spiritual principles of all true religions. If you follow them, you will experience a spiritual awakening and transformation. They are stated in first person plural because they can’t be followed on your own. Recovery from alcoholism or any bad habit has to be a team effort. They are as follows:

1. We admit to ourselves that we are powerless over alcohol, anger, food or whatever bad habit is our nemesis and that our lives have become unmanageable.

2. We come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. We make a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God as we understand Him.

4. We make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. We admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. We are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. We humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. We make a list of all persons we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all.

9. We make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them.

10. We continue to take personal inventory and when wrong, we promptly admit it.

11. We seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The first step sounds like giving up. It is in the sense that the human ego, thinking that it can manage its addiction finally admits that it can’t. It is a surrender to the truth that we are powerless over our addiction. It sound like hopelessness and defeatism but it isn’t. It is acceptance of what is, and after that acceptance can be found the first glimmer of hope in the second and third steps when we bend the knee before God or our Higher Self.

The twelve steps are very humbling, empowering, and spiritualizing. Those who are familiar with the spiritual principles of various religions will recognize them in these steps. Steps 1 through 3 are the steps leading to conversion or being born again. The date a person took the first step is celebrated as a birthday in 12-step programs. Steps 4 through 10 include confession, absolution and restitution. Step 11 is the following of a spiritual discipline or, in Hinduism, sadhana. Step 12 is called witnessing. Those who have gotten through the first 11 steps are a witness just by their living example. They don’t need to preach or proselytize.

Do you have to be addicted to a bad habit and hit rock bottom before taking the first step? Of course not. But you do have to have a sincere desire to improve your life. If you’re satisfied with your life, you’re either a saint or you’re fooling yourself. Some people may have already taken the first steps, but need to work on one of the others, like step 4. If you don’t take a moral inventory of yourself, then like a business that doesn’t keep inventory, you go broke or morally bankrupt and your electronic belt becomes cluttered with the junk of fears, resentments and other negative emotions. Is it time to go into your basement, take inventory and clean it out? Better take God with you. There are 12 steps out of the basement and some of the junk is bulky and heavy.

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