One of the Keys to opening the door to 12 Step Programs.. What is a Higher Power.?

[ismnotwasm]

13. As an agnostic

(I simply don't have what t takes to believe in deities) a higher power can be the power of friendships, the power of conscience--with the tools of 12 steps to keep it in shape, the child- like wonder and curiosity I have. (Like even the potential of string theory blows me away) Mostly it's something I don't worry about. I think those who get all worked up about the G word aren't well grounded in the traditions--at least in AA, Because those are what hold AA together as a secular society.

Of course there are people of faith. There are people of faith everywhere.

To others like me, I explain it something like this; human beings form a type of ecology, we effect each other one way or another every single day and every moment of these days. I have a choice to to be kind, considerate and loving--a part of the solution, as it were, just as I can indulge in bitterness and self pity and take it out on others. A part of the problem. I can use judgment to condemn, or to see where I can be useful, always understanding judgement is a two way street, And affects how I live and interact with others.

Drinking and using drugs personally makes me useless, a thief of any gifts I might bring to this human ecology, a diseased part that harms the whole.

And that inner voice? Once my head was clear enough to listen to it, and once I had a trusted few people in my life to check in with-----pure gold.