"No matter how long we have been sober, if we try liquor again, we're as bad or worse than we ever were. There is no exception to this rule in the whole history of A.A.."
This is one of those facts of Twelve Step recovery that I've always had a hard time getting my mind around so I don't think about the particulars very often. I acknowledge that it's true - I've seen far too many examples to doubt it - but in a tiny, dark corner of my mind I still hang onto the feeling that if I drank again all of my time and all of the work I've put in would somehow stand me in good stead. I don't dwell on this, of course, banishing it immediately, because it's such total bullshit.
"Your whole character changes as you reach upward for the things of the spirit - for beauty, for love, for honesty, for purity, and for unselfishness. We often choose the way of life that best suits the body, not the way that best suits the soul. I am in a box of space and time and cannot see spacelessness or eternity. But God is not within the shell of time and space. He is timeless and spaceless. He cannot be fully comprehended by our finite minds. But we must try to make a union between our purposes and the purposes of God. By trying to merge our minds with the mind of God, a oneness of purpose results."
I've always enjoyed thinking of my Higher Power being outside of time and space. It helps me have faith to believe that I will never be able to fully comprehend God. It allows me to grasp the concept loosely. I'm no physicist but I think the universe is like a gazillion miles across and it's expanding at 42 gazillion miles an hour while we speak. I can understand that? Pfffft. Believing in a power greater than myself is a piece of cake.
When the concept of a Higher Power comes up in the A.A. literature it is frequently capitalized.
Here's a partial list:
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