Steps 6 & 7 – Sandy B.

About This Speaker Tape

SANDY B. navigates the thorny ground of Steps 6 and 7, framing the spiritual life as a battle over 'territory'—our personal kingdom of ideas, resentments, and plans. He argues that the ego's greatest trick is convincing us we are separate from the Creator.

The process demands giving up everything we claim as 'mine,' from alcoholism to gossip. The talk culminates in the painful, yet necessary, surrender of the last vestiges of self-will, suggesting that true progress isn't about achieving 'perfection,' but about the willingness to endure the discomfort of letting go.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction to the topic: Steps 6 and 7.
• 0:35 Discussion of the 'kingdom' metaphor, referencing Step 3.
• 1:35 Discussion of the ego's claim over 'territory' and the need to surrender it.
• 3:30 The speaker details the surrender of alcoholism, comparing it to giving up 'New England' territory.
• 5:15 The speaker discusses the difficulty of giving up defects like gossip, noting that Higher Power takes it 'all or nothing'.
• 7:00 The C.S. Lewis toothache story is told, illustrating the danger of settling for 'half measure'.
• 10:30 Deep dive into 'humbly asking' versus 'regular asking,' linking it to the total absence of pride.
• 14:00 Chuck Chamberlain's statement: the one problem is 'Conscious separation from Higher Power.'