Before tackling the inventory problem in detail, let’s have a closer look at what the basic problem is. Simple examples like the following take on a world of meaning when we think about them. Suppose a person places sex desire ahead of everything else. In such a case, this imperious urge can destroy his chances for material and emotional security as well as his standing in the community. Another may develop such an obsession for financial security that he wants to do nothing but hoard money. Going to the extreme, he can become a miser, or even a recluse who denies himself both family and friends.
There’s something somewhere. Maybe further along in this step? Where we who have escaped such extremes congratulate ourselves, or something like that. Right now, I’m looking for the “world of meaning.” I recently went to a meeting where they discussed Step Five, and I thought then that the “exact nature of my wrongs” has changed drastically since I stopped drinking. The “wrongs” of the active alcoholic are a world away from those of a sober alcoholic. Thank goodness.
I’m not so much trying to understand what I did wrong between 34 and 40 years ago when I was for most intents and purposes a child of sorts. I’m trying to understand what I do wrong now, in old age and in old sobriety. The sex maniac and the miser aren’t ringing any bells for me. I need to get a better handle on the low level procrastination, mid level fear, high level sloth. These are my basic problems. I think.
