Reliance Not Defiance

"'As psychiatrists have often observed defiance is the outstanding characteristic of
many an alcoholic. When we encountered AA, the fallacy of our defiance was revealed.

At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not defiance.

In AA we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe.'"

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 31