Step Four
“Made a searching and fearless moral
inventory of ourselves.”
Tradition Four
“Each group should be autonomous
except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.”
The A.A. book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions states the following about Step Four: “Creation gave us instincts for a purpose. Without them we wouldn’t be complete human beings. [Yet] these instincts, so necessary for our existence, often far exceed their proper functions.”
Step Four is our way to discover how our instincts and desires have warped us, so that we can move toward correcting them.
Like lancing an infected wound, the step may cause short-term pain for longer-term healing. We must face our past fearlessly, trusting that our Higher Power will help and guide us—if we ask.
Tradition Four, according to the “Twelve and Twelve,” allows each A.A. group autonomy in decision-making, so long as the decision doesn’t affect other groups or A.A. as a whole.
As the “Twelve and Twelve” states, “We saw that the group, exactly like the individual, must eventually conform to whatever tested principles would guarantee survival. [Every] group had the right to be wrong.”
This tradition resulted from years of learning what can enhance or hinder an A.A. group. Autonomy for the group, with accountability to other groups and A.A. as a whole.—
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