Fear Looms

Step We Are On: Four

Page: 67

Chapter: 5 "How It Works"

Subject: Resentment Inventory, Fear

Good morning. We are going through the columns of the 4th step directions. We are looking at the upsetting things others do in the world from an angle quite different from the one we are used to. Today we beginning to view fear.

• What is promised as the result of closely following the directions?

We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set these matters straight.

Comment:   You may want to thank God for it when you arrive at Step Eight.

Comment:  Now for the second part of our inventory.  This manifestation of our character defects is FEAR.

• What part of our lives does fear touch?  (2 sentences)

Notice that the word "fear" is bracketed alongside the difficulties with Mr. Brown, Mrs. Jones, the employer, and the wife.  This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives.

Do you have the word "fear" in brackets alongside the appropriate items on your inventory?  You do? Good!

• Is it a part of our existence?

It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it.

Shot – variegated in color, as a fabric when the warp and weft are of different colors; as rose silk shot with silver. 
~ The Winston Simplified Dictionary – 1938

Weft refers to the transverse threads carried by the shuttle of a loom back and forth across the warp. The warp is the same only lengthwise. To variegate means to change in appearance by marking with a different color or to streak with a color.

Evil – morally bad; wicked.
 ~ The Winston Simplified Dictionary – 1938

What does it set in motion?

It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune we felt we didn't deserve.

• Who is responsible for the fear we experience?

But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling?

Remember, fear is an emotion. It is a derivative of resentment, characterized by dread or expectation of harm. (Please see yesterdays study for the 1938 definition of Fear)

It can also mean the desire to escape or avoid harm from, or displeasure of, something conceived as a power. This is the kind of fear your lower Self experiences when confronted with Truth about It. A Power great than Self. It hates that, and cowers in the presence of that Power.

The Alcoholic is not merely a victim of circumstances. He himself has set in motion a series of unfortunate consequences he is sure he doesn’t deserve. He has done this through his own fears—his own resentment and worry about events that have not even occurred yet.

Peace and  Love,

Danny S – RLRA

Real Live Recovered Alcoholic

http://stepelevencomesalive.blogspot.com/