Alcoholism Support Group

I don't believe in god the creator. My belief is much more along the lines of buddhism. A universal spirit, law of nature, along with an internal connection or interconnectedness to all things including the universal power as long as my ego is kept out of the way and does not create a separateness.

I am with you though in terms of inanimate objects, finite resources etc. I don't believe, for example, that a doorknob is a power greater than me. It doesn't make sense.

>> believing in a higher power that really has no power to help
>> it seems to me in AA people are tricking the mind and then the body follows.

Yes, I would say that is fairly accurate ... and I see no great problem there.

Pesonally, I have never doubted the existence and reality of "God", yet I got started in A.A. by believing He must have cared at least enough about the others who were already here to have done something for them they said they could never have done for themselves ... and that made it possible for me to believe I might be able to at least tag along with them. Today, of course, I have my own "contact" with Him ... and I have learned His existence and reality were never in the slightest way ever threatened or affected by my mere belief or lack of it anyway!

I didn't drink for 22 years and was an agnostic and didn't go to AA. Well I went to AA at first for 6 months.

Weird, I think. I went to treatment in 83 and relapsed 4 1/2 years ago.

I would have to say I agree with the dogma of AA, in that, I was not drinking for all of those years but I didn't improve my life much.......or rather my mind and how I reacted to life and what it threw my way.

I'm happier in this kind of sobriety than the "dry drunk" type I had before, though it's not AA that teaches me how to deal or think differently than I did for that 22 years, it's the Bible.

I can certainly see how AA helps the person be introspective enough to change their alcoholic personality and thoughts when they have trouble believing in God of the Bible.

D... you know as well as I do it's not AA's higher power. it's what one chooses and ACCEPTS as their Higher Power. You pretty much know what I believe. It's not that much different then you. You know what though. I can't tell you how many have come and asked me to explain my concept and in turn have come to believe. I don't have to force my beliefs on anyone they like what they see and ask. The offering of the Good News to people who are seeking it.

That kind of thing can't be forced on anyone, I know for 49 years it couldn't be forced upon me.

I'm glad, in retrospect, I relapsed because the next 22 years (if I live that long) will be a happier sober life than what I had before.

I'm just asking a question about how their HP in AA works because I have never had it explained to me.

I have no idea of what a Higher Power is and I really don't care. I just think in terms of having a meaningful purpose to my life and that works for me. I don't drink because I have more important things to do.

>> I'm just asking a question about how their HP in AA works because I have never had it explained to me.

First, and like Nod has said, I believe, there is only one "God", however you might happen to understand Him, who is ever able to fix anybody. Or to say that a little differently: It is "God as *you* understand God" ("Alcoholics Anonymous", the book, page 164, emphasis added) who has brought about my permanent recovery.

Now, a lot of people in today's AA *do* talk about "a (or even 'any') god of your own understanding", but there is no such idea presented anywhere within "Alcoholics Anonymous", the book.

But in any case, how does He work?! Quite well, actually, and sometimes even anonymously!

But, you are asking more than that ...

In Step One, we admit we are dead on our own:

"Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and ...
"... we are going to talk about God." (page 45)

Next we take Step Two:

"We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. 'Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?' As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way." (page 47)

After that, we make a decision to abandon ourselves to "God" by taking Steps Four through Nine, and by the time we have completed those Steps, we have at least "made contact" ... and then we have three more Steps for spiritual maintenance (10), growth (11) and service (12).

However, here is the real beauty of "God" at work in A.A.:

"Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another's conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him." (page 46)

Alcohol /drugs was my higher power for too long. I was an agnostic also, but when I started doing the steps to the best of my ability, good things happened. I call my higher power God, but my concept is not other peoples. Positive thinking can help the mind and body, it saved me.

The "God of my understanding" is kind of like a "Force be with you" sort of thing, not a white guy with a beard . It's certainly not the punishing almost crazy old testament God of my youth.

But at first I used the group as my HP, which helped begin the process of becoming less self centered.

my concept of God was very different before I started taking the steps to sfter I had done them,.

I grew to know a loving kind God who lives in my heart. This is not the God of the Bible, but thats just for me! I respect others Higher power, but can't understand how someone could get sober with a lightbulb as their Higher power. The important thing for me was doing the 12 step program, only then could I believe in Higher Power, because I'd seen it work. Before the steps I only had a willingness.