Honesty is a Matter of Heart -- a New Heart

"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest." (AA, 58)

"Completely give themselves" -- this would be laughable but for the excruciating pain which men and women put themselves through trying to "work the program."

Man is incapable of being honest with himself:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17: 9)

All the knowledge in the world, all the study and rigor, all the attendance in meetings, cannot rid man of the sin problem, deeper than alcohol abuse, more profound than human alienation.

Man needs a new heart, a new life:

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

"That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11: 19-20)

We cannot be honest with ourselves about everything as a matter of fact. How much time can one man spend looking over his past, his present, his inner failings. We do not go blind looking in, for man is blind apart from regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit.