Twelve Secular Steps

12 Secular Steps: An Addiction Recovery Guide is a Step working guidebook for agnostics, atheists, and others who believe addicts should be active in and accountable for their recovery. Unlike traditional Twelve Step literature, this secular adaptation of 12 Step approach neither promotes nor rejects religion and spirituality; it de-emphasizes the active role of God or a Higher Power in favor of a secular, cognitive-behavioral framework. The adapted methodologies are grounded in a biology-based foundation and philosophy.

Staying Sober Without God is a guide for non-believers who want to get sober without an act of faith. Traditional 12-step programs push for a belief in God or a higher power. The practical 12 steps outlined in this book provide a path to lasting recovery that requires no belief in the supernatural.

Modern 12 Step Recovery is a user-friendly, secular guide to the 12 Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This book includes updated Steps, information from science and psychology, and a working guide to the 12 Step program that makes the program welcoming to people of all ages and beliefs. This "modernization" was achieved without making any fundamental changes to the AA program. Modern 12 Step Recovery is 100% compatible with pursuing a program of recovery within the traditional AA mutual support network. This includes AA meetings, sponsor relationships, and other activities. The information in this book is also relevant to people in recovery from co-dependency (Al-Anon) and other 12 Step-based programs.

"A comprehensive two part essay offering an interpretation of the 12 Step Philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous"--Page 4 of cover.

In 1991, two women were successfully working the 12-Step program... and they were atheists. They knew the program worked, and translated the Steps into secular terms. This ground-breaking book - as valuable today as it was when it was first written - is their sharing of this secular translation. In The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide to Recovery, Martha Cleveland and Arlys G. show how the 12-Step program can be interpreted and worked by those who simply do not believe in an interventionist deity. At the same time the authors conscientiously maintain the intention and integrity of the program - its values, scope and depth. A chapter is devoted to each Step. The language is clear, engaging and personal. The Foreword to this Second Edition of the book begins with a striking quote from Chapter Three which captures the essence of both the book and the 12 Steps: "We can learn the universal, generic pattern of life's dance from the 12 Steps. But in our individual dance of life, we choose our own music and dance our own dance." This is a unique, inspiring and helpful book for anyone - regardless of belief or lack of belief - who would like to work the 12 Step program.

One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world—author of such acclaimed books as A History of God, Islam, and Buddha—now gives us an impassioned and practical book that can help us make the world a more compassionate place. Karen Armstrong believes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, in this straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life. The twelve steps Armstrong suggests begin with “Learn About Compassion” and close with “Love Your Enemies.” In between, she takes up “compassion for yourself,” mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and “concern for everybody.” She suggests concrete ways of enhancing our compassion and putting it into action in our everyday lives, and provides, as well, a reading list to encourage us to “hear one another’s narratives.” Throughout, Armstrong makes clear that a compassionate life is not a matter of only heart or mind but a deliberate and often life-altering commingling of the two.

A Secular Sobriety will help alcoholics and addicts to understand the fellowship and program of Alcoholics Anonymous "without having to accept anyone else's beliefs or having to deny their own." It includes a secular and non-sexist version of the first 164 pages of the Big Book bringing a 78 year old text into the 21st century. A Secular Sobriety brings truth to AA's claim to be "spiritual, but not religious." The author offers insightful commentary regarding AA's fellowship, program, organization and its primary text. Succeeding over the misery of addiction is within the reach of any person regardless of personal beliefs. There is no reason for religious conversion to be a part of any 12 Step program.

A 75th anniversary e-book version of the most important and practical self-help book ever written, Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is a special deluxe edition of a book that has changed millions of lives and launched the modern recovery movement: Alcoholics Anonymous. This edition not only reproduces the original 1939 text of Alcoholics Anonymous, but as a special bonus features the complete 1941 Saturday Evening Post article “Alcoholics Anonymous” by journalist Jack Alexander, which, at the time, did as much as the book itself to introduce millions of seekers to AA’s program. Alcoholics Anonymous has touched and transformed myriad lives, and finally appears in a volume that honors its posterity and impact.