Big Book Study

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Big Book Study - Post #24

Good morning everyone!

We are on Page 75. Paragraph 2 includes the 5th Step promises:

"Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are
delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at
perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the
nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs,
but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that
the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel
we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of
the Universe."

There is some wonderful stuff there. This is where we really start
to clear that channel between God and ourselves and begin to feel
the power of His presence in our lives.

>>>Karen: I will admit to you right here that I did not have good
sponsorship in my early sobriety, so I struggled terribly with the
5th Step. It was the most difficult step for me. (I tried to take my
first 5th step with my cat! Needless to say, it didn't work.)

When I finally did sit with another human being, I still hung on to
some secrets I planned to take to my grave. By my 5th sobriety
anniversary, I was in bad shape. I was finally urged by a dear
friend to deal with it. I'm forever grateful that I did. I now walk
this earth a free woman.

When I sponsor other women through the 5th step, we go through her
4th step inventory thoroughly. We discuss every character defect. We
uncover every secret, hidden thing. We do our very best to be
fearless and thorough. I share much of my 5th step with her along
the way, so she'll know she is not alone and most certainly not the
worst woman in the world. We cry, we laugh, we talk, and we dig.<<<

Today, my life is an open book. Shame and guilt are no longer
associated with the way that I live. It is no longer necessary to
hide the things that I do or say because I try to live along
spiritual lines. Step 5 was the integral step in beginning this
road, "the Broad Highway, to freedom."

In order to prevent having to repeat the 4th and 5th Steps, my
sponsor directed me to begin self examination each day using Step
10. Later in this study, we will see how Step 10 incorporates the
same ideas and principles that have been expressed in Steps 4 and 5.
By practicing Step 10 daily, I avoid building up a load of trash, so
I never have the need to take a second 4th Step. I take the trash
out every day. That is also why it says "Continued to take personal
inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it" in Step 10,
for we have commenced to do this as we straightened out the past.

So, how long do we wait to proceed on to Step 6? Paragraph 3 on page
75 answers that question:

"Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour,
carefully reviewing what we have done."

For an hour, not a year!

Now we again examine that spiritual structure we have previously
discussed on pages 12, 47, and 62:

"Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted
anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall a free
man at last."

The spiritual structure is an arch and each of the preceding steps
have built upon each other to build this arch. If we have not been
thorough, our structure will crumble. Reviewing our previous work is
essential.

It will take us a while to get through this chapter. There is a lot
of ground to cover—Steps 5 through 11 in one chapter! In our next
post we will proceed to page 76 and the discussion of Steps 6 and 7.

Jim