Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” Last paragraph of page 63, the Big Book tells us what we need to do now that we have made our decision to proceed: “Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom.” So we had to get down to causes and conditions Please note the book says at once. This means we take the Fourth Step immediately after Step Three. We have to get rid of those things which have been blocking us off from God or else our initial contact with our Creator wont last. What are these causes and conditions? Well, the Big Book uses a lot of different words meaning the same thing: “damaged or un-sellable goods, flaws in our make-up, defects of character, shortcomings, and even wrongs.” All these have the same effect: they block us off from God. The book starts by comparing a personal inventory to a business inventory. In the first full paragraph of page 64, they write: “Therefore, we started upon a personal inventory. This was Step Four. A business which takes no regular inventory usually goes broke. Taking commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock-in-trade. One object is to disclose damaged or un-sellable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool himself about values.” So, we are going to conduct the equivalent of a commercial inventory on our lives. We are going to discover what had blocked us off from the Sunlight of the Spirit.
Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” Last paragraph of page 63, the Big Book tells us what we need to do now that we have made our decision to proceed: “Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom.” So we had to get down to causes and conditions Please note the book says at once. This means we take the Fourth Step immediately after Step Three. We have to get rid of those things which have been blocking us off from God or else our initial contact with our Creator wont last. What are these causes and conditions? Well, the Big Book uses a lot of different words meaning the same thing: “damaged or un-sellable goods, flaws in our make-up, defects of character, shortcomings, and even wrongs.” All these have the same effect: they block us off from God. The book starts by comparing a personal inventory to a business inventory. In the first full paragraph of page 64, they write: “Therefore, we started upon a personal inventory. This was Step Four. A business which takes no regular inventory usually goes broke. Taking commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock-in-trade. One object is to disclose damaged or un-sellable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool himself about values.” So, we are going to conduct the equivalent of a commercial inventory on our lives. We are going to discover what had blocked us off from the Sunlight of the Spirit.