Have you found your higher power? Is it God, the ocean, or a doorknob? Or is it something else entirely?
It is the opinion of the writer of this blog that the newcomer might very understandably feel nonplussed by the Big Book’s distinction between a God rooted in theological tradition, and a “higher power of [their] own understanding.” After all, in both cases, the newcomer is asked to believe in something for which there is no physical evidence. The dismissal of scientific reasoning in the chapter We Agnostics is specious; yes, like faith, science involves assumptions; but unlike faith, science is testable.
So now, what then? What are we left with? Have we outsmarted the Big Book? We can, at the very least, agree that God “is or He isn’t.” And this writer can agree to something else too; something that can be heard quoted, across the world on the right night, in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous:
“Except in a few rare cases, neither [the alcoholic] nor any other human being can provide [an effective mental defense against the first drink]. His defense must come from a Higher Power.”
Sometimes, your friends and family will save you from despair. Other times, you will save yourself.
But then there will come another time. A time when there will be no one and you will have nothing. What then?
It is the opinion of the writer of this blog that a reasonable person cannot possibly believe in a higher power, and must dismiss the notion. They must, however, simultaneously and constantly, believe in something exactly like a higher power, and make this belief the fundament of their worldview.
It is the opinion of the writer of this blog that a reasonable person cannot possibly believe in a higher power, and must dismiss the notion. They must, however, simultaneously and constantly, believe in something exactly like a higher power, and make this belief the fundament of their worldview, in order to maintain peak mental fitness.
Conclusion
Maybe you still feel as if the word “God” or “Higher Power” is something too far out or is just too confusing. The beautiful thing is, this is your experience to have and build. The more you seek your Higher Power, the more your conception of what it might be will grow into something unfathomable, you will just know that your Higher Power is there with you.
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