This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work.
We had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't.
For an organization that insists it has a message which is spiritual in nature we do talk an awful lot about God with a capital G. It is a great conundrum. I see the whole God component as the source of recovery for most of us who claim Alcoholics Anonymous as our guiding light while simultaneously being the factor that drives more people away than any other. As a kid who grew up believing in a God I confess to struggling sometimes with this resistance. I get it if someone doesn't want to believe in some kind of official, rules-based God but to deny that there isn't some kind of power greater than my own self designing things or running things or overseeing things strains my credulity from time to time. As a scientist I've studied how the body works in detail and the complexity and beauty of the whole operation astounds me. To think this is somehow random is hard for me to do. But that's just me. I don't even talk in such generalities in a meeting. I don't want to give anyone an excuse to walk away from The Rooms even if I think that the excuses are sometimes flimsy.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.
The minute I stopped fighting or arguing, I could begin to see and feel. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role God assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think he would have us, and humbly rely on him, does he enable us to match calamity with serenity.
Destruction: The action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired.
Calamity: An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster.
Beat: Strike repeatedly and violently so as to hurt or injure, often with a club or whip.
Fight: Take part in a violent struggle involving the exchange of physical blows or the use of weapons.
Argue: To express diverging or opposite views, typically in a heated or angry way.
I think I'm just going to let the definitions speak for themselves as a rationale for trying to avoid finding a Higher Power to lean on.
‘Why can’t we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests?
We have seen A.A.’s ask with much earnestness and faith for God’s explicit guidance on matters ranging all the way from a shattering domestic or financial crisis to correcting a minor personal fault, like tardiness. The thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations.
I get it that people who fight the concept of a "god" can take a look around and find religious figures who behave in non-godlike ways. It's not hard. There are plenty of flawed people in the world and some of them have a public presence so if you're looking for reasons not to do something you'll be able to find them. Personally, I think most of these folks have good intentions. Personally, I think I have good intentions. I have heard, however, that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms.
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