Image via WikipediaCome to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Objective:
•To explore the Second Step in order to understand who the Higher Power is, and what role faith plays in meeting him.
•To reflect on our views of God.
•To discuss the biblical view of faith.
Step Two:
Come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
A Higher Power
In Step Two, we are introduced to the fact that the Twelve Step program is spiritual in nature. Step Two speaks of "a Power greater than ourselves." Step Three asks us to turn our lives over to "God as we understand him." Steps Five and Six direct us to admit our wrongs to God and ask him to deal with our character defects. It is clear that to recover from our addictive behavior, we need to be in touch with God.
Right from the beginning Alcoholics Anonymous (who created the Twelve Steps) stated the spiritual nature of this program. In the so-called Big Book of AA it says:
If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma, We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.
Of course, the centrality of God to the Twelve Steps raises problems for some. They ask, "Does this mean that Twelve Step programs aren't open to those who are agnostics or atheists?" AA has been sensitive to this question. While steadfastly maintaining that to recover a person needs to find a spiritual basis for life, AA also states: "When ... we speak to you of God, we mean 'your own conception of God.'" This phrase has been interpreted in interesting ways:
•"Your 'Higher Power' can be whatever suits you - nature, science, the AA group - why I have one friend in AA whose first higher power was a Fifth Avenue bus that almost knocked him down. he stayed sober, and gradually his ideas began to change. By its general permissiveness concerning theology, AA is able to help countless alcoholics whose prejudices against overt religion would keep them from identifying with a more orthodox approach."
•"The Twelve Steps is a spiritual program, not a religious one. When we talk about spirituality, we are talking about the spirit of life. This spirit is made up of the force that makes life happen together with our belief in its power. For religious people, this life force may be God. For people who do not have traditional religious beliefs, it may not be."
•The Higher Power has been conceived of in a variety of ways: some consider the Twelve Step group as their Higher Power. Others consider a mountain or a river as their Higher Power. John Bradshaw tells of a man who made an oak tree his Higher Power. (He came to the meeting one day and reported that they had cut down his Higher Power!)
It is true that not everyone believes in God. And of those who believe in God, not everyone puts God at the center of his or her life. Still, it can be argued that all people follow some sot of "Higher Power" whether they know it or not. This "Higher Power" serves as their "god," in that it determines what they choose (i.e., how they spend their time, what they pursue in life, etc.) These "gods" have many names: money, power, love, a cult leader, truth, addictions. Some of these higher powers are positive in that they bring good and promote wholeness (e.g., serving the needs of the poor, the pursuit of truth, love of a person, commitment to planetary wholeness). Other higher powers are negative, in that they move people toward that which is evil and promotes destruction (e.g., alcohol, sex for it own sake, the love of power, the need to possess). However, all these lesser "gods" - be they good or bad - are defective in the end because people were meant to worship and serve the one true and living God. It is from this God who promotes our wholeness and the wholeness of the world.
Therefore, the nature of the Higher Power to whom you commit your life is an important issue. It stands to reason that to be in touch with the Living God (who created the universe and all that is in it) is substantially different than committing oneself to a figment of the imagination or to a pretend-power (like the Fifth Avenue bus). In fact, research has shown that there is a connection between length of sobriety and relative orthodoxy of theology. Those who believe in a God who is real, who cares for them, and who can be known, tend to remain free from their addiction.
Still the point remains: lots of people who are not even vaguely religious are helped by the Twelve Steps. How can this be? Doesn't it matter whether the "Power greater than ourselves" is real or not? Can this Higher Power be anything we choose to give that name?
The fact is that God helps all who call upon him, even when they do so in vague, non-specific, half-believed terms. Theologians speak of this as "common grace." This is the power and presence of God which floods the world. St. Matthew puts it this way: "He [God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Mt 5:45).
But there is a world of difference between being the recipient of God's grace and building a life around a relationship to God. There is a world of difference between committing ourselves to a vague principle, an amorphous life force, or a spiritual philosophy and coming to know the Living God in a vital, relational way. This is the difference between believing something and knowing someone. Commitment to a moral principle - eve a true principle - can do no more than give us a pattern by which we shape our lives. We can have no relationship with a principle except to believe it. Furthermore, the principle itself has no inherent power. By itself it can't change us. We change ourselves in accord with how well we conform to the principle. But to be committed to a person is to enter into an unfolding, dynamic relationship that engages not only our mind (belief) but also our will, affections, and actions. Furthermore, if the one to whom we are committed is God, we touch his enormous power and are changed by it. It is not up to us alone; God empowers us.
•To explore the Second Step in order to understand who the Higher Power is, and what role faith plays in meeting him.
•To reflect on our views of God.
•To discuss the biblical view of faith.
Step Two:
Come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
A Higher Power
In Step Two, we are introduced to the fact that the Twelve Step program is spiritual in nature. Step Two speaks of "a Power greater than ourselves." Step Three asks us to turn our lives over to "God as we understand him." Steps Five and Six direct us to admit our wrongs to God and ask him to deal with our character defects. It is clear that to recover from our addictive behavior, we need to be in touch with God.
Right from the beginning Alcoholics Anonymous (who created the Twelve Steps) stated the spiritual nature of this program. In the so-called Big Book of AA it says:
If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma, We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.
Of course, the centrality of God to the Twelve Steps raises problems for some. They ask, "Does this mean that Twelve Step programs aren't open to those who are agnostics or atheists?" AA has been sensitive to this question. While steadfastly maintaining that to recover a person needs to find a spiritual basis for life, AA also states: "When ... we speak to you of God, we mean 'your own conception of God.'" This phrase has been interpreted in interesting ways:
•"Your 'Higher Power' can be whatever suits you - nature, science, the AA group - why I have one friend in AA whose first higher power was a Fifth Avenue bus that almost knocked him down. he stayed sober, and gradually his ideas began to change. By its general permissiveness concerning theology, AA is able to help countless alcoholics whose prejudices against overt religion would keep them from identifying with a more orthodox approach."
•"The Twelve Steps is a spiritual program, not a religious one. When we talk about spirituality, we are talking about the spirit of life. This spirit is made up of the force that makes life happen together with our belief in its power. For religious people, this life force may be God. For people who do not have traditional religious beliefs, it may not be."
•The Higher Power has been conceived of in a variety of ways: some consider the Twelve Step group as their Higher Power. Others consider a mountain or a river as their Higher Power. John Bradshaw tells of a man who made an oak tree his Higher Power. (He came to the meeting one day and reported that they had cut down his Higher Power!)
It is true that not everyone believes in God. And of those who believe in God, not everyone puts God at the center of his or her life. Still, it can be argued that all people follow some sot of "Higher Power" whether they know it or not. This "Higher Power" serves as their "god," in that it determines what they choose (i.e., how they spend their time, what they pursue in life, etc.) These "gods" have many names: money, power, love, a cult leader, truth, addictions. Some of these higher powers are positive in that they bring good and promote wholeness (e.g., serving the needs of the poor, the pursuit of truth, love of a person, commitment to planetary wholeness). Other higher powers are negative, in that they move people toward that which is evil and promotes destruction (e.g., alcohol, sex for it own sake, the love of power, the need to possess). However, all these lesser "gods" - be they good or bad - are defective in the end because people were meant to worship and serve the one true and living God. It is from this God who promotes our wholeness and the wholeness of the world.
Therefore, the nature of the Higher Power to whom you commit your life is an important issue. It stands to reason that to be in touch with the Living God (who created the universe and all that is in it) is substantially different than committing oneself to a figment of the imagination or to a pretend-power (like the Fifth Avenue bus). In fact, research has shown that there is a connection between length of sobriety and relative orthodoxy of theology. Those who believe in a God who is real, who cares for them, and who can be known, tend to remain free from their addiction.
Still the point remains: lots of people who are not even vaguely religious are helped by the Twelve Steps. How can this be? Doesn't it matter whether the "Power greater than ourselves" is real or not? Can this Higher Power be anything we choose to give that name?
The fact is that God helps all who call upon him, even when they do so in vague, non-specific, half-believed terms. Theologians speak of this as "common grace." This is the power and presence of God which floods the world. St. Matthew puts it this way: "He [God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Mt 5:45).
But there is a world of difference between being the recipient of God's grace and building a life around a relationship to God. There is a world of difference between committing ourselves to a vague principle, an amorphous life force, or a spiritual philosophy and coming to know the Living God in a vital, relational way. This is the difference between believing something and knowing someone. Commitment to a moral principle - eve a true principle - can do no more than give us a pattern by which we shape our lives. We can have no relationship with a principle except to believe it. Furthermore, the principle itself has no inherent power. By itself it can't change us. We change ourselves in accord with how well we conform to the principle. But to be committed to a person is to enter into an unfolding, dynamic relationship that engages not only our mind (belief) but also our will, affections, and actions. Furthermore, if the one to whom we are committed is God, we touch his enormous power and are changed by it. It is not up to us alone; God empowers us.
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