from the '12 X 12' book:

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

 "... Any person capable of enough willingness and honesty to try repeatedly Step 6 on all his faults - without any reservations whatever - has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be called a person who is sincerely trying to grow in the image and likeness of his own Creator...

"When men and women pour so much alcohol into themselves that they destroy their lives, they commit a most unnatural act. Defying their instinctive desire for self-preservation, they seem bent upon self-destruction. They work against their own deepest instinct. As they are humbled by the terrific beating administered by alcohol, the grace of God can enter them and expel their obsession.  Here their powerful instinct to live can cooperate fully with their Creator's desire to give them new life. For nature and God alike abhor suicide...

"Since most of us are born with an abundance of natural desires, it isn't strange that we often let these far exceed their intended purpose. When they drive us blindly , or we willfully demand that they supply us with more satisfactions or pleasures than are possible or due us, that is the point at which we depart from the degree of perfection that God wishes for us here on earth. That is the measure of our character defects...

"If we ask, God will certainly forgive our derelictions. But in no case does He render us white as snow and keep us that way without our cooperation. That is something we are supposed to be willing to work for ourselves. He asks only that we try as best we know how to make progress in the building of character...

"So Step 6 - 'Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character' - is AA's way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning on this lifetime job. This does not mean that we expect all our character defects to be lifted out of us as the drive to drink was. A few of them may be, but with most of them we shall have to be content with patient improvement...

"How many of us have this degree of readiness? In an absolute sense practically nobody has it. The best we can do, with all the honesty that we can summon, is to try to have it.  Even the best of us will discover to our dismay that there is always a sticking point, a point at which we say, 'No, I can't give this up yet.' ... such is the power of our instincts to over-reach themselves. No matter how far we have progressed, desires will always be found which oppose the grace of God...

"Practically everybody wants to get rid of his most glaring and destructive handicaps...

"Not much spiritual effort is involved in avoiding excesses which will bring us punishment anyway. But when we face up to the less violent aspects of these very same defects, then where do we stand?...

"What we must recognize now is that we exult in some of our defects. We really love them. Who, for example, doesn't like to feel just a little superior to the next fellow, or even quite a lot superior? Isn't it true that we like to let greed masquerade as ambition? To think of liking lust seems impossible. but how many men and women speak love with their lips, and believe what they say, so that they can hide lust in a dark corner of their minds? ...

"Self-righteous anger can also be very enjoyable. In a perverse way we can actually take satisfaction from the fact that many people annoy us, for it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too.  Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness...

"When gluttony is less than ruinous, we have a milder word for that, too... We live in a world riddled with envy. To a greater or lesser degree, everybody is infected with it...  And how often we work hard with no better motive that to be secure and slothful later on - only we call that 'retiring'. Consider, too, our talents for procrastination, which is really sloth in five syllables. Nearly anyone could submit a good list of such defects as these, and few of us would seriously think of giving them up, at least until they cause us excessive misery...

"Therefore, it seems plain that few of us can quickly or easily become ready to aim at spiritual or moral perfection; we want to settle for only as much perfection as will get us by in life, according, of course, to our various and sundry ideas of what will get us by. So the difference... is the difference between striving for a self-determined objective and for the perfect objective which is of God...

"Only Step 1, where we made 100% admission we were powerless over alcohol, can be practiced with absolute perfection. The remaining eleven Steps state perfect ideals. They are goals toward which we look, and the measuring sticks by which we estimate our progress. Seen in this light, Step 6 is still difficult, but not at all impossible. The only urgent thing is that we make a beginning, and keep trying...

"We shall need to raise our eyes toward perfection, and be ready to walk in that direction. It will seldom matter how haltingly we walk. The only question will be 'Are we ready?'...

"Looking again at those defects we are still unwilling to give up, we ought to erase the hard-and-fast lines that we have drawn. Perhaps we shall be obliged in some cases to say, 'This I cannot give up yet...' but we should not say to ourselves, 'This I will never give up.' ...

"Let's dispose of what appears to be a hazardous open end we have left. It is suggested that we ought to become entirely willing to aim toward perfection. We note that some delay, however, might be pardoned. That word, in the mind of a rationalizing alcoholic, could certainly be given a long-term meaning. He could say, 'How very easy! Sure, I'll head toward perfection, but I'm certainly not going to hurry any. Maybe I can postpone dealing with some of my problems indefinitely.'  Of course, this won't do. Such a bluffing of oneself will have to go the way of many other pleasant rationalization. At the very least, we shall have to come to grips with some of our worst character defects and take action toward their removal as quickly as we can...

"The moment we say, 'No, never!' our minds close against the grace of God. Delay is dangerous, and rebellion may be fatal. This is the exact point at which we abandon limited objectives, and move toward God's will for us."