Wondered why they failed 73:1-5
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Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their house cleaning. 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 in necessary, until they told someone else all their life story.
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This explains why we need to take all of the steps in order. As we work the following steps our understanding of the previous ones broadens and deepens. Picking and choosing which steps we prefer to take produces little or no results. This is a suggested program not a program of suggestions. Each subsequent step depends and builds upon our experience with each of the earlier steps. Few who have not admitted powerlessness will be willing to abandon their old way of life and adopt a new one. Few who are unwilling to believe in a Power greater than themselves will decide to turn their will and life over to the care of God. Why do a moral inventory if we are not seeking to be rid of those aspects of ourselves that block us from God? What admission can we make to God, ourselves and another person if we have not developed the insight to recognize the real problem? We need to take all the steps to successfully overcome alcoholism.
The authors are being polite and trying to avoid making judgments of us. Let us not fool ourselves into believing that they are referring to someone else. Cross out the word “they” in ever sentence and replace it with “I.” We need to learn the benefits of this way of life first hand. We need to have our own individual spiritual experiences. Practicing the fifth step enables us to directly experience this spiritually based way of life and to reap its benefits.