Step one of the original six step recovery program was Complete Deflation (meaning death of the ego, or sense of one's own self). This also opens the way from dualistic thinking into non-duality. In a non-dualistic state we are more perceptive to receive help from another source, a higher power, to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

• Many teachers of the 12 steps have said, the first step is probably the hardest, the most denied, and the most avoided. So, the whole process never takes off! No one likes to die to who they think they are. They're false self is all they think they have.