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."

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.

I had one of those old fashioned sponsors who made me read my entire
fourth step to him. We looked at each item, analyzed it, and
discussed the defect of character which was at the center of it. He
also related some of his own fourth step stuff to me. Certainly I
was not alone in living through my defects, since he showed me how
he had done the same. At the end, he said that the old Jim had
been exposed and the new Jim was about to come alive. This was the
first time I had revealed myself to someone else.

Today, because of a strong foundation, my life is an open book for
anyone to see. 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." "...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