Having made our personal inventory, what shall we do about it? We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path. We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects. This brings us to the Fifth Step in the program of recovery – Admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
This is perhaps difficult — especially discussing our defects with another person. We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves. There is doubt about that. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. Many of us thought it necessary to go much further. We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so.
The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only thought they had lost their egoism and fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else their entire life story. (To be continued next week)
Reprinted from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, page #71-72, with permission of AA World Services, Inc.
There are meetings today at 7.30pm at these locations: Prerana Group, KB Veera Gujrathi High School, Dombivli (East); Bindhas Group, St Joseph High School, near Railway Station, Vikhroli (West); and Akshay Group, St Joseph High School, Dahanukar Wadi, Kandivli (West)
To find other AA meetings close to you, call 2684 4400 for West Mumbai, 098212 34577 for Thane, 2384 2384 for South Mumbai, 093264 77682 for Vasai and 093234 85476 for Kalyan
DNA Newspaper Mumbai Edition Published Date: May 15, 2012
