Big Book Study Review – Part 7 – Joe Hawk and Triva – 1992 — Joe H.

About This Speaker Tape

Joe H. breaks down the mechanical grit of the Fourth Step, treating the Big Book as a manual rather than a textbook. He walks through the four-column resentment inventory, the two-column fear list, and the paragraph-style sex inventory, using raw, unfiltered examples.

He shares a visceral account of being 'sacked' as a sponsor and the ego-driven wreckage that followed, alongside a critique of 'coffee house' recovery culture. Joe emphasizes that the inventory is like peeling an onion—stripping away the layers of anger and self-reliance to reach the core of fear. He argues that the only way to see the directions is to actually do the work, moving from the wreckage of the past to a sane ideal for the future, eventually leading to the liberation of the Fifth Step.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Discussion on the temporary nature of relief vs. real freedom from resentment.
• 2:15 The prayer for the spiritually sick: Emphasizing that the speaker is just as sick as the person they are praying for.
• 5:30 Example of a 4-column resentment inventory: Being 'sacked' as a sponsor.
• 9:10 Example of resentment toward an institution: The 'coffee houses'.
• 12:40 Analysis of the 'Greatest statement of hope in the Big Book': Our troubles are of our own making.
• 15:20 The 'fear inventory' and the concept of fear as a conscious decision based on self-reliance.
• 18:10 The sex inventory: Moving from a list of relationships to a paragraph-form analysis of motives.
• 22:45 The 'nine questions' for the sex inventory and creating a sane ideal for the future.
• 26:10 The 'peeling the onion' metaphor for the inventory process.
• 28:30 The importance of the Fifth Step and the danger of holding things back.