Thursday, May 10, 2011
"Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." - Step Five
Just for today, I ask if I fulfilled my obligation to the Fifth Step by admitting the "nature of (my) wrongs" to all three participants - God, myself and another person. As the basic text of AA states, laboring with judicious honesty in the Fourth is not sufficient to reconcile myself with my character defects: " ...If we skip this vital (Fifth) step, we may not overcome drinking" (Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 6, p 72). As the text also advices, the function of Step Five is to attain humility: "Trying to avoid this humbling experience, (we) have turned to easier methods" (Ch 6, p 72). And, as we in recovery have been warned repeatedly, there is no "easier, softer way." Today, I will avoid the falsehood of thinking I have lost egoism and attained humility in my Fourth Step inventory, even if it is as honest as I can be, and submit to the humility of "confessing" the nature of my wrongs to another person - after admitting them first to my Higher Power and to myself. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012
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