2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Sometimes atheists, people who have problems with conventional religion, or people who have issues with the concept of God have trouble with this step. The Yellow Workbook has this to say:
A note to the atheist or agnositc:
The ACA progam is for you. If you do not believe in God or a Higher Power, select something to be a power greater than yourself so that you can work the ACA program and receive healing results. Example: your ACA group or therapy group is a power greater than you since it meets regularly, discusses ACA issues and produces progress for its participants. Meanwhile, we ask that you keep an open mind about the spiritual nature of ACA and enjoy the fellowship's acceptance.
My answer to an atheist who happened to pose the question to me:
While I am a man of faith, I can certainly understand why a person would have a problem with the concept of a directive consciousness over the universe. So much of the world is irrational and inexplicable. And bad things happen to good people with great regularity. So rejecting a beneficent diety, a "Santa Claus God" as you put it, makes a certain amount of sense.
However there is something that brought you to me today, that moved you to choose me to tell about your difficulty, that moved me over the course of the last few days to be thinking about this even though it is not my problem. And that was Not You.
You may want to give it the name Random Chance or Dumb Luck. You might want to be more positive and say it's the Natural Order of Things. But the key thing to remember is that it's Not You.
The ultimate purpose of Step 2 in my mind is a pairing with Step 1. Step 1 talks about how we as individuals cannot do it entirely ourselves. This is an evident fact. If we could have done it entirely ourselves, we would have already freed ourselves from our ACoA chaos.
Step 2 is telling us that we need help from Not Us, that we cannot do it alone and that it is okay to allow Not Us to help us. Step 2 does not absolve us from responsibility in us doing the work. It simply acknowledges we will need more help than we ourselves as individuals can provide.
Something makes the Earth spin on its axis and makes the Earth orbit the sun. Call it God or call it Newtonian Physics. But it is Not Us. And what the program is asking you to do is to believe that something that is Not You may and will help you.
If you're struggling here, I hope that either what the Yellow Workbook said or what I said may be of assistance to you.
As to "restore to sanity," some people claim to never have known sanity and so it cannot be restored. Some feel that they couldn't tell what sanity was and prefer "bring to clarity."
Don't let the specificity of language hold you back. Something can help you get better, no matter what you might call it.
Jozie said
Jan 28, 2016
When I First Joined Al-Anon My Faith in "God" was Really Distorted to say the Least, and even tho Growing up being sent to church, (I Believe to give my Mother a Break) I had No Feelings of "Faith" Or "God"...
So When I arrived I was told to Also Use the Group as my "God of Understanding" even tho I Still didn't understand the Request I Did Find Hope and Freeness in doing so...
I Can Now say, 7 years later... I have Located the God of My Understanding, and I'm So Grateful to have such a Soft place to Land when All Else Feels Heavy... This Program can Help Only those that Want to be Helped, and I'm So Grateful, I Chose not to Do it Alone :)
Jozie
Laura1 said
Nov 22, 2017
Hello all
I don't know what to say for step 2. Like many I suppose, I lose my faith in a higher being when things het tough i.e. too many things to juggle that makes me realize how alone I feel in the world.
The only faith I have is in the stepwork that has worked miracles in my life in the past and got me out of a much darker state-it gave me insight into why my life is the way it is: alcoholism traits even though I or my mum not alcoholics.
So I suppose it will suffice for now.
Laura
-- Edited by Laura1 on Wednesday 22nd of November 2017 09:04:51 PM
From the ACA Steps:
2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Sometimes atheists, people who have problems with conventional religion, or people who have issues with the concept of God have trouble with this step. The Yellow Workbook has this to say:
A note to the atheist or agnositc:
The ACA progam is for you. If you do not believe in God or a Higher Power, select something to be a power greater than yourself so that you can work the ACA program and receive healing results. Example: your ACA group or therapy group is a power greater than you since it meets regularly, discusses ACA issues and produces progress for its participants. Meanwhile, we ask that you keep an open mind about the spiritual nature of ACA and enjoy the fellowship's acceptance.
My answer to an atheist who happened to pose the question to me:
While I am a man of faith, I can certainly understand why a person would have a problem with the concept of a directive consciousness over the universe. So much of the world is irrational and inexplicable. And bad things happen to good people with great regularity. So rejecting a beneficent diety, a "Santa Claus God" as you put it, makes a certain amount of sense.
However there is something that brought you to me today, that moved you to choose me to tell about your difficulty, that moved me over the course of the last few days to be thinking about this even though it is not my problem. And that was Not You.
You may want to give it the name Random Chance or Dumb Luck. You might want to be more positive and say it's the Natural Order of Things. But the key thing to remember is that it's Not You.
The ultimate purpose of Step 2 in my mind is a pairing with Step 1. Step 1 talks about how we as individuals cannot do it entirely ourselves. This is an evident fact. If we could have done it entirely ourselves, we would have already freed ourselves from our ACoA chaos.
Step 2 is telling us that we need help from Not Us, that we cannot do it alone and that it is okay to allow Not Us to help us. Step 2 does not absolve us from responsibility in us doing the work. It simply acknowledges we will need more help than we ourselves as individuals can provide.
Something makes the Earth spin on its axis and makes the Earth orbit the sun. Call it God or call it Newtonian Physics. But it is Not Us. And what the program is asking you to do is to believe that something that is Not You may and will help you.
If you're struggling here, I hope that either what the Yellow Workbook said or what I said may be of assistance to you.
As to "restore to sanity," some people claim to never have known sanity and so it cannot be restored. Some feel that they couldn't tell what sanity was and prefer "bring to clarity."
Don't let the specificity of language hold you back. Something can help you get better, no matter what you might call it.
So When I arrived I was told to Also Use the Group as my "God of Understanding" even tho I Still didn't understand the Request I Did Find Hope and Freeness in doing so...
I Can Now say, 7 years later... I have Located the God of My Understanding, and I'm So Grateful to have such a Soft place to Land when All Else Feels Heavy... This Program can Help Only those that Want to be Helped, and I'm So Grateful, I Chose not to Do it Alone :)
Jozie
Hello all
I don't know what to say for step 2. Like many I suppose, I lose my faith in a higher being when things het tough i.e. too many things to juggle that makes me realize how alone I feel in the world.
The only faith I have is in the stepwork that has worked miracles in my life in the past and got me out of a much darker state-it gave me insight into why my life is the way it is: alcoholism traits even though I or my mum not alcoholics.
So I suppose it will suffice for now.
Laura
-- Edited by Laura1 on Wednesday 22nd of November 2017 09:04:51 PM