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From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
Click the page number or the book cover icon
to view that page in the literature.1.
2.
Young people may be encouraged by this man's experience to think that
they can stop, as he did, on their own will power.
3.
As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could quit on our
will power.
4.
5.
But where and how were we to find this Power?
6.
7.
Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration,
and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power.
8.
Show him, from your own experience, how the queer mental condition surrounding that first drink prevents normal functioning of the
will power.
9.
10.
At such moments we forget that alcoholism is
an illness over which we
could not possibly have had any power.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue that we have been driven
to A.A., have admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.
16.
So how, exactly, can the willing person continue to turn his will and his life over to the Higher Power?
17.
18.
For the time being, we who were
atheist or agnostic discovered that our own group, or A.A. as a whole, would suffice as a higher power.
19.
20.
Let's here take note of our improved outlook upon the problems of personal importance,
power, ambition, and leadership.
21.
Learning to depend upon a higher power and absorb himself in his work with other alcoholics, he remains sober day by day.
22.
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.
23.
24.
I felt I had every right to be self-confident, that it would be only a matter of exercising my will power and keeping on guard.
25.
26.
27.
Relieved of the alcohol
obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed, they came to believe in a Higher Power, and most of them began to talk of God."
28.
29.
30.
The persistent use of meditation and prayer, we
found, did open the channel so that where there had been a trickle, there now was a river which led to sure power and safe guidance from God as we were increasingly
better able to understand Him.
31.
32.
Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.'s speak the language of the heart in all
its power and simplicity.
33.
They flatly declare that
since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves,
to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a
revolutionary change
in their way of living and thinking.
34.
Follow the dictates of a
Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!
35.
Let us become willing to partake and be strengthened and lifted
up by the sheer spiritual power, beauty, and love of which these
magnificent words are
the carriers.
36.
37.
We were bothered with the thought that faith and dependence upon a Power beyond ourselves was somewhat weak, even cowardly.
38.
39.
Having reduced us to a state
of absolute helplessness, you now declare that none but a Higher Power can remove our obsession.
40.
To certain newcomers and
to those one-time agnostics who still cling to the A.A. group as their higher power, claims for the power of prayer may, despite all the logic and experience in proof of it, still be unconvincing or quite objectionable.
41.
We forgot that most alcoholics in A.A. have an earning power considerably above average; we forgot the immense goodwill of our brother A.A.'s who were only too
eager to help us to better jobs when we deserved them; we forgot the
actual or potential financial insecurity of
every human being in the world.
42.
43.
44.
Of course the depressive
and the power-driver are personality extremes, types with which A.A. and the whole world abound.
45.
46.
As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we
could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter.
47.
48.
Our desires for emotional security and wealth, for personal prestige and power, for romance, and for family satisfactions -- all these have to be tempered and redirected.
49.
But when I became willing
to clean house and then asked a Higher Power, God as I understood Him, to give me release, my obsession to drink vanished.
50.
51.
52.
The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles.
53.
54.
55.
56.
I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief
now.
57.
58.
While the comment or advice of others may be by no means infallible, it is likely to
be far more specific than any direct guidance we may receive while we are still so inexperienced in
establishing contact
with a Power greater than ourselves.
59.
For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and
miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
60.
61.
62.
63.
It is really saying to us
that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did
when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity.
64.
Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is
the essence of spiritual
experience.
65.
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.
66.
With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with
their own conception of a
Power greater than themselves.
67.
In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves,
if they are to re-create their
lives.
68.
They flatly declare that
since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves,
to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a
revolutionary change
in their way of living and thinking.
69.
In this respect they are certainly a power greater than you, who have not even come close to a solution.
70.
Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which
will solve your problem.
71.
In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to
live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible.
72.
73.
74.
When our friend related his
experience, the man agreed that no amount of will power he might muster could stop his drinking for long.
75.
For just so long as we were convinced that we could live
exclusively by our own individual strength and
intelligence, for just
that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible.
76.
77.
For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and
miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
78.
79.
Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action, for it
is only by action that we can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God -- or, if you like, a Higher Power -- into our lives.
80.
81.
Dr. Foster Kennedy, neurologist:
"This organization of Alcoholics Anonymous calls on two of the greatest reservoirs of
power known to man, religion and that instinct for association
with one's fellows ... the 'herd instinct.'
82.
83.
We have also seen men and women who go power-mad,
who devote themselves to
attempting to rule their
fellows.
84.
85.
86.
In Step Two we saw that since we could not restore ourselves to sanity, some Higher Power must necessarily do so if we were to survive.
87.
88.
When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God.
89.
90.
Judging from what I had seen
in Europe and since, the power
of God in human affairs was negligible,
the Brotherhood of Man a
grim jest.
91.
This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing
consciousness of the power of God in our lives.
92.
Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the
new order of things, were the essential
requirements.
93.
94.
Though the earning power of most A.A.'s is relatively high, we have some
members who never seem to get on their feet moneywise, and still others who encounter heavy financial reverses.
95.
96.
To certain newcomers and
to those one-time agnostics who still cling to the A.A. group as their higher power, claims for the power of prayer may, despite all the logic and experience in proof of it, still be unconvincing or quite objectionable.
97.
In a vague way their families and friends sense that these drinkers are
abnormal, but everybody
hopefully awaits the day when the sufferer will rouse himself from his lethargy
and assert his power of will.
98.
99.
Had this power originated
in him?
100.
In the face of collapse and
despair, in the face of the
total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them.
101.
What has become of the common sense and will power that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters?
102.
103.
... power; that
sufficient operating funds and reserve ...
BB
Appendix VII, Twelve Concepts (Short Form), p.575
XII. The Conference shall observe the spirit of A.A. tradition, taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds and reserve be its prudent financial principle; that it place none of its members in a position of unqualified authority
over others; that it reach all important decisions by discussion,
vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial
unanimity; that its actions never be personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy; that
it never perform acts of government, and that,
like the Society it serves, it will always remain democratic in thought and
action.
104.
105.
And the facts seem to be these:
The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually
are.
106.
Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy
Love, and Thy Way of life.
107.
108.
If your husband is trying
to live on a spiritual basis, he will also be doing everything in his power to avoid disagreement or contention.
109.
Unreasonable fear that
our instincts will not be
satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are
threatened, to be envious when the ambitions
of others seem to be realized while ours are not.
110.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with
God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.
111.
Step Eleven -- "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying
only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
112.
"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying
only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
113.
And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: "...knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out."
114.
Whether such a person can quit upon a nonspiritual basis depends upon the extent to which he has
already lost the power to choose whether he will drink or not.
115.
116.
117.
It is not by chance we were given the power to reason, to examine the evidence of our senses, and
to draw conclusions.
118.
Following his physical
rehabilitation, he had a talk with me in which he frankly
stated he thought the treatment a waste of effort, unless I could assure him, which no one ever had, that in the future he would have the "will
power" to resist the impulse to drink.
119.
120.
We began to get over the idea that the Higher Power was a sort of bush-league pinch hitter, to be called upon only in an emergency.
121.
As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question.
122.
In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to
live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible.
123.
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.
124.
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.
125.
In our personal stories
you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which
is greater than himself.
126.
A.A. has to function, but at
the same time it must avoid those dangers of great wealth, prestige, and entrenched
power which necessarily
tempt other societies.
127.
They believe in themselves, and still more in the Power which pulls chronic alcoholics back from the gates of death.
128.
129.
From great numbers of such experiences, we could
predict that the doubter
who still claimed that he
hadn't got the "spiritual angle," and who still considered his well-loved A.A. group the higher power, would presently love God and call Him by name.
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