In their sincere and honest attempt to maintain a "hands off" policy regarding fellow members' religious beliefs and perhaps sensitivities, our AA founders exercised gentle wisdom and proffered spiritual freedom.
No one, it was rightly thought, should be permitted to impose his or her own
religious concepts and beliefs upon any other member of the fellowship. The
area was much too important to the newcomer, to be tampered with by mortal
man. The very life of the newcomer ultimately depends upon his or her
"personal relationship" with a "Power greater than they are." The notion was
valid in the Program's early days -- and it still is!
In no way, shape or form, however, was the idea conceived to avoid guiding
our beloved newcomer along the path of spiritual progress. Quite the
contrary, our whole purpose as recovered alcoholics was, and is, to help the
next person achieve sobriety. If that person is a real alcoholic his or her
only hope is a loving, healing, God. So in its most basic and simplest
terms, our only real purpose is to help the still-suffering alcoholic to
find God.
This is no easy task. Vast arrays of difficulties present themselves to
thwart the new person's journey. The foremost adversary, of course, is the
illness itself. It seems that many, many alcoholics have a fierce,
emotionally charged resistance, to accepting any dependency upon a Power,
which, to them, may seem an abstract and remotely distant concept. This
internal resistance is most effectively broken down by the newcomer's
initial desperation. It seems such a shame that today's A.A. actually
encourages the newcomer to avoid reaping the blessing of that desperation.
If intense enough and deep enough, this emotional "bottom" will be the very
propellant the newcomer needs to thrust them into the recovery process
offered by AA, through its 12 steps.
Another stumbling block, which many people who are new to the Program are
currently encountering, is us! We seem to be full of fear regarding the
responsibility that we have been given in the area of spiritual guidance. We
shirk this responsibility by evasiveness or by the direct side-stepping of
the issue by such statement as, "It's God as you understand Him," and, "It's up to you to come to your own conclusions." So, the newcomer is left to their own devices. They are expected to
arrive, alone and unguided, at a relationship with their Creator.
One of the most powerful and hope-filled statements to be found in the
entire text of Alcoholics Anonymous can be found on page 25.
"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and
effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole
attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The
central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator
has entered into our hearts and lives in a way that is indeed miraculous.
He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do
for ourselves."
Are we so far removed from the results the co-founders and pioneers of our
recovery program realized, that today these words are nothing more than a
nice thought or an exaggeration due to artificially inflated emotions? If
so, then we obviously cannot transmit something we do not have. We cannot
share an awareness we don't have. We cannot give guidance that we have never
received. We cannot share a vision of a God that we have never seen. Our
lack, thereby, becomes the newcomer's lack, and they may die because of it!
Our resistance becomes their license. In their liquor-befogged mind, they do
not seek and experience “the One who has all power” ("...that One is God, may you find Him now!"), instead, they create their own god! It's no wonder that their dryness
becomes so barren that in a very short time they return to drinking. Their
Higher Power is a light bulb! (No joke, we have heard this concept voiced
more than once, and not only by newcomers!) Or perhaps this power greater
than himself was a chair, or a wall, or even a mere mortal sponsor.
A
quick glance at the top of page 93 of the Big Book makes instantly clear a
very important qualification in the concept of "…as you understand Him," and that is: ‘He can choose any conception he
likes, PROVIDED IT MAKES SENSE TO HIM. The main thing is that he be
willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by
spiritual principles.’"
A light bulb (or any other inanimate object for that matter) is not a Power
that can or will restore them to sanity (and
solve all their problems – see pg 13)! A simple flick of
a switch turns off that power. A wall? Not so powerful when confronted with
a bulldozer. A chair? An ax can make quick kindling of that higher power. A
sponsor then? If the sponsor fails to perfect his spiritual life, his old
foe alcohol is sure to reclaim him. So he won't do very well as a greater
power. How about a whole group? (Group Of Drunks) Possibly for someone else,
but not for us.
If one person who is powerless over alcohol is joined by another who is
powerless over alcohol, and another, and another, we do not have a group of
people who ARE POWERFUL over alcohol. We would have a group of people who
are POWERLESS over alcohol. Yet they do not drink! They have gained access
to something more powerful than alcohol.
Phrases such as "higher power", "power greater than ourselves", or "as we understood Him", were not created as an
enabling device to justify our membership's continued avoidance of a
connection with our Creator. Page 46 of the AA book says,
"We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express
even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we
commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to
fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God."
Again, "… that Power, which is God."
Our founders held no reservations whatsoever with WHO was dealing with them.
Perhaps we would be well advised to think twice before we attempt any
reservations ourselves. Alcoholics Anonymous is not allied with any
religion, as we well know. But it is allied with God, "for our very lives as ex-problem drinkers depend on it." It is allied with spirituality, for despite what our preamble states,
A.A. is not just a "fellowship," it is a
spiritual way of life.
It is our most earnest desire that no one reading this feels that we are
trying to impose any presentation of God or His nature on anyone. Our real
hope is that a reader may be jolted from a position of complacency or
spiritual evasion and get about the business of recovery.
Clarence Snyder
Copyright © 2002 - Came to Believe Retreats.
All rights reserved - all wrongs amended.
"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and
effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole
attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The
central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator
has entered into our hearts and lives in a way that is indeed miraculous.
He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do
for ourselves."
A quick glance at the top of page 93 of the Big Book makes instantly clear a very important qualification in the concept of "…as you understand Him," and that is: ‘He can choose any conception he likes, PROVIDED IT MAKES SENSE TO HIM. The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles.’"
"We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express
even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we
commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to
fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God."
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