Where are "the Promises," and what do they promise?
In short:
- The passage known as "the Promises" is on pages 83 and 84 of the Big Book, in Chapter 6, "Into Action." It begins "If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through." (p. 83)
- It closes the book's account of the amends work of Steps Eight and Nine, and "this phase" refers to that work. It ends with "We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves." (p. 84)
- The book doesn't number them or give them a title. It calls them promises once, just after: "Are these extravagant promises? We think not." (p. 84) And it attaches a condition: "They will always materialize if we work for them." (p. 84)
Where they sit
Chapter 6 takes the reader through Steps Eight and Nine on pages 76 to 83: creditors, old enemies, legal trouble, the family. The last paragraph before the promises is about wrongs that can never be fully righted, honest letters to people who can't be seen, and standing on our feet as God's people, without crawling before anyone (p. 83).
Then comes the promise, conditional on that work: if we are painstaking "about this phase of our development" (p. 83). Read in place, "this phase" is the amends. The passage isn't a general description of sobriety, and it isn't placed at the end of the Steps. Right after it, the book moves on to Step Ten (p. 84).
What they promise
In our own words, in the order the book gives them (pp. 83–84): 1. A new freedom and a new happiness. 2. Not regretting the past, nor wanting to shut the door on it. 3. Understanding the word serenity, and knowing peace. 4. Seeing how our own experience, however far down we went, can benefit others. 5. The feeling of uselessness and self-pity disappearing. 6. Losing interest in selfish things and gaining interest in other people. 7. Self-seeking slipping away. 8. A change in our whole attitude and outlook on life. 9. Fear of people and of economic insecurity leaving us. 10. Knowing intuitively how to handle situations that used to baffle us. 11. Suddenly realizing that God is doing for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.
The book doesn't number them, so counts vary; how many there are is a matter of how you split the sentences.
What the book says about them
"Are these extravagant promises? We think not." (p. 84) They are "being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly" (p. 84). And the condition: they will always come true "if we work for them" (p. 84).
Several of them point outward: our experience benefiting others, gaining interest in our fellows, self-seeking slipping away (p. 84). They describe a person turned toward other people, which is where the book goes next: Step Ten's daily practice ends with turning our thoughts "to someone we can help" (p. 84), and Chapter 7 is about carrying the message.
More promises after them
The text continues past page 84 with another passage often read alongside them: after Step Ten, "sanity will have returned," and the problem of drink "has been removed" (pp. 84–85). The book ties that one to a condition too: it holds "so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition" (p. 85), and it's only "a daily reprieve" (p. 85).
Read it yourself
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" (pp. 72–88), with the promises on pages 83–84, free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Related: How does the Big Book say to make amends?
- The full book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is sold by A.A. World Services at https://onlineliterature.aa.org.
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 6, "Into Action" | 76–85 | 1939 |
Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). The Preface says the program chapters have been "left largely untouched" since 1939 (p. xi), but our sources have no first edition to compare page numbers against.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.