12 Steps - Naturalist Version - No God or "Free Will"

[soloadmin]

The 12 Steps of Recovery – Naturalist Edition

Step 1: We admitted that our behavior was being driven by causes we could not fully control or understand, and that unexamined influences had made our lives unmanageable.

Step 2: We came to understand that only through insight into the natural causes of our behavior could we begin to recover a sense of clarity and direction.

Step 3: We made a decision to align our lives with reality as it is, not as we wish it to be, and to work with the truths of nature rather than against them.

Step 4: We made a searching and scientific inventory of the factors—biological, psychological, and environmental—that shaped who we became.

Step 5: We shared this inventory with another person, acknowledging the impersonal but powerful forces that shaped our harmful patterns.

Step 6: We became willing to examine and change the conditions and influences that gave rise to our destructive behaviors.

Step 7: We worked to adjust these underlying causes using reason, compassion, and evidence-based strategies, instead of relying on guilt, shame, or supernatural appeals.

Step 8: We identified those we had harmed, recognizing that harm emerges from causes—and so does healing.

Step 9: We made amends wherever possible, not out of penance, but to repair the social and emotional conditions that sustain well-being.

Step 10: We continued to observe our behavior and its causes, and when we found ourselves repeating harmful patterns, we worked to change the conditions, not just the outcomes.

Step 11: We sought to deepen our understanding of the natural systems that shape us, cultivating mindfulness, humility, and curiosity rather than appeals to metaphysical forces.

Step 12: Having awakened to the causal nature of human behavior, we committed to helping others understand this truth, and to building a world that replaces blame with understanding, punishment with prevention, and shame with compassion.