Though I don’t drink alcohol and have never been associated with Alcoholics Anonymous, it has occurred to me that a least a few of the “Twelve Steps” are directly relevant to the process of becoming ethical. I thought I would evaluate how by citing them from the AA website and seeing how they might be adapted.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.

In another post I discussed how the idea of heaven might be being remembered well and how the idea of hell might be remembered poorly. People of conscience have regrets. People of ethics do something about it. The first step is admitting there is a problem.

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

Like all ethical conduct, all that is required is self-reflection. A higher “Power” is not an essential element. I had not realized just how rooted AA is in Christianity, and frankly it seems unnecessary, and a bit exclusionary. Can you not join AA and get help if you don’t embrace some higher power? I have often asked people whether one can live a “Christian” life and not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Is it not possible to follow the teachings without ascribing some higher power to the messenger? Is the message any less valid if it doesn’t come from some “higher place”? It reminds me of the time I spent teaching at an institution of higher learning. Many instructors wore suits and ties. I don’t even own a tie, and can’t remember the last time I wore one. Were my words any less legitimate as a result? Why do people even wear ties and suits? It’s the book, not the cover.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Well, perhaps not specifically “Christian”, but… A friend of mine refers to “Churchianity”, essentially some entity with an interest in controlling others through their unique interpretation of scripture, an interpretation that necessarily requires “turning over of the will” to the Church. This seems a frightening prospect. However, if one considers the word “God” in terms of “conscience”, then for our purposes we have something. People of conscience recognize when something isn’t right, and they do something about it.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let’s just add three words to the end: “and our actions”. These Twelve Steps have mostly to do with the “R” in one of the “PEAR” acronyms – Reflection.

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

This is related to the “R” in the other PEAR acronym – Responsibility. Again, we can achieve the goal here without the necessity of a higher power. It also seems to me that there’s no reason to “validate” our admission by making it to another person. The person that needs to know is the one we’ve harmed through our unethical conduct, and they are addressed a little further down.

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

We remove such defects by taking action to change ourselves, through reflection and positive actions. We do this ourselves. If we wait for “God” to do it, we might be waiting awhile.

7. Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.

See item 6. This takes personal effort and work. If we replace the word “Him” with “our conscience”, this all makes just as much sense.

8. Made a list of all the persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

It should be easy to see how important this one is. If you act unethically, admit it and do something to fix it. It’s not that hard. When you do, regardless of what you may have done, you will be remembered better than if you don’t. And you’ll have done the right thing, and hopefully, learned enough from it that instinctively you will not act in the same unethical way again.

9. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

I’m not clear on how “making amends” could injure people. Reopening of old wounds perhaps? If that’s the case, then making amends might well heal the wounds. There is always a truth to everything, and it needs to be accepted and dealt with, even when it hurts. Failure or inability to face the reality of things is frequently the cause of unethical conduct in the first place.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

This is really the goal, isn’t it? How do we take ourselves to a place where we are reflective (continuously take personal inventory) and responsive (admit it). But admitting it isn’t enough. We need then to cycle back to making amends. And remember, admission and making of amends are not necessary if one acts ethically in the first place.

Note: I am by no means suggesting that alcoholism is “unethical”. I am simply trying to recast the precepts that have worked so well for AA and re-imagine them for use in considering personal ethics.

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

Again, replacing the words “Him” and “God” with “conscience” results in an equally satisfactory outcome.

I recognize that my comments might well rub some people the wrong way, and I am not interested in denigrating people’s beliefs. All I desire is for people to reflect on the true reasons for those beliefs. Religion works for a great many people, and it generally tends to instill some understanding of ethics in them, and if that works for people, great. For others, the external agency of organized religion is not a necessity to arrive in the same place.

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

All we need to do here is to swap the word “alcoholics” with “everyone”. However, this is not an invitation to proselytize. We carry the message of ethics through our own ethical actions, serving as role models for others. None of us will achieve perfect ethicality. But we all know people whom we admire for their “righteousness”, and we remember them fondly. Hopefully, we learn from them.