Activity Does Not Equal Action
I first heard it from Fr. Martin…
Many people mistake activity for action. I think Fr. Martin relates it somewhat like this: I have to do a Fifth Step. Admit it to God, to myself and another human being. Well, I’ll go to another meeting and share about it there. And then another meeting, and another, etc. Hopefully you’ll get the idea.
That’s not action, that’s activity!
It is my personal belief that the Fifth Step is where I discovered what a master of self-delusion I am. Not only is going to more meetings to avoid actually doing a Fifth Step not action, it is really a disguised form a self-appraisal and therefore, insufficient. Which is why we must pay attention to our basic text!
“We have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.”
In a rough way means we have refining to do.
“We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves. There is doubt about that. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. Many of us thought it necessary to go much further.”
This brings to my mind what quite a few folks have been using lately - a new profundity - “you can’t fix a problem with the mind that made it.” I doubt that was true for folks like Einstein but for us alkies I’m rather certain of its veracity… :)
“We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so. The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking.”
That last statement deserves undivided, clear attention!
“If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking.”
Our Big Book follows up with something that has sadly been so true in my experience observing others;
“Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost inevitably they got drunk.”
Activity is an easier method. Any “easier” method which isn’t outlined in our basic text also, imho, means that whoever is employing another method has taken to re-writing our Big Book which means a level of arrogance beyond that which I exhibited. Try to pay attention to, and then call them on it, the folks who, in their arrogance, think somehow they can replace the author’s names with theirs…
Tags: 5th-step, admitted to God, alcoholics-anonymous, Into ActionRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Personal, The Fifth Step
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