"Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas," says the AA Big Book, "and the result was nil until we let go absolutely."

Some of us in Program are not entirely sure that this is the case. Oh, it might be true when it comes to the fundamentals of so-called "hard" addictions. If we drink or drug or gamble, we are likely to see no results at all unless we stop drinking or drugging or gambling completely.

But is it true otherwise? Surely it's possible to make progress in Program without immediately letting go of our old ideas? After all, "no one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles .... We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection."

Those of us who live our lives on the basis of the last three Steps may also be doubtful about letting go absolutely of our old ideas. We seem to have walked some distance along the spiritual path while still holding on to thinking which we know in our heart of hearts is not really working for us. Don't half-measures avail us at least something?

But the very fact that, against our practice of Steps 10, 11, and 12, we feel drawn to give up still more of our past thinking suggests the real answer to this question. We may claim only spiritual progress, but our goal is spiritual perfection, even though we know we will never attain it in this life. Similarly, we seek to abandon our old ideas in their entirety. We may not succeed while we are still alive, but we set it as our goal because we know, deep inside ourselves, that those old ideas never really did work for us, never will, and never can.