…a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Every time he tries to look within himself, Pride says, “You need not pass this way,” and Fear says, “You dare not look!” ~ AA World Services Inc. As Bill Sees It. A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Step Four says we Made a searching
and fearless moral inventory
of ourselves.
Fearless? Who ever first approached Step Four
without fear? There’s a reason
we speak of the earlier steps as dancing
a waltz. One, Two, Three — One, Two, Three —
One, Two, Three — we get stuck with these “easier steps”
and cringe at the idea of seriously studying our past,
actually describing our resentment, especially
since the Big Book says of the process,
…we resolutely looked for our own mistakes.
Where had we been selfish, dishonest,
self-seeking and frightened?
Though a situation had not been entirely our fault,
we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely.
Where were we to blame?
Certainly fear and pride confront us!
But those of us who have done a Fourth Step
understand when we begin to do subsequent ones
there’s comfort to be found in them,
that the fear and pride can just shush themselves
and comfort is the result of the process!
We can tell them to quit and let the process work!