AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) still uses the original 12-step recovery program. Many alcoholics find it difficult to admit that they cannot control their drinking. If they think they can’t stop themselves, AA says they can start the recovery process. There is a great idea that they promote. Above all, says AA, people with an addiction need to seek something greater than themselves in order to recover: a higher power. When you’re desperate, you feel like you need something pretty powerful to make you feel better.

AA’s success rate for long-term sobriety is between 5% and 10%, which is not bad considering the intractable nature of the problem. Although he did it in a somewhat dismissive way, a well-known scientist affirmed the importance of turning towards the spiritual.

“The only cure for dipsomania is religiomania” (William James psychologist and philosopher)

Most notably, the 12-step approach is now used by self-help groups for drug users, compulsive gamblers, sex addicts, depressives, and others who feel they cannot deal with their problem behavior without a powerful spiritual form of help. .

Belief in a higher power of the 12-step program
Sociologist Darren Sherkat was interested in Americans’ belief in a higher power. So, he based his research on data from 8,000 adults surveyed by the Chicago-based National Center for Opinion Research. Among his findings was that 8% stated, “I don’t believe in a personal god, but I do believe in a higher power of some sort.” This is a figure similar to that found by other pollsters.

We might ask what the respondents understood by the term ‘higher power’. Likewise, what different ideas exist regarding such a notion?

Those who work with the 12-step program may not believe in the God of traditional religion. They are encouraged to adopt an open mind before discarding the notion of a “higher power.” They are free to choose whatever meaning works for them. The term is sometimes thought of as a transpersonal force or deity, or some other conception that is loving and caring.

Here are four different views. You may want to consider each one and then decide which one suits your way of thinking. Choose your option!

Higher Consciousness and the 12-Step Program
Those who practice meditation regularly sometimes speak of their experience of a higher state of mind. What could be called a mystical or sublime consciousness. Four characteristics seem to apply as follows:.

• Consciousness of the non-material
• What is beyond the individual
• timelessness
• What is outside of space.

Meditators often claim that this state of higher consciousness has the power to create, for example, calm, patience, and tolerance.

Creative Life Force and the 12-Step Program
There is also the concept of a higher power as life force. This idea is of a creative energy, with the wisdom to know how to design things in nature and the power to create them.

For example, deism asserts that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to prove the existence of a single creator of the universe.

“The first power of all powers and the first cause of all causes; and this is what all men conceive of by the name of God, which implies eternity, incomprehensibility, and omnipotence.” (Thomas Hobbes, philosophize)

Included among those influenced by this idea were the leaders of the American and French revolutions. Today, some deists believe in the intervention of the deity in our lives.

Another example of belief in a vital force behind the cosmos is classical Hinduism. This is a polytheistic religion. However, it is widely accepted by Hindus that the individual deities are expressions or representations of a single ultimate spiritual power which they call Brahman.

In the early scriptures of the Upanishads, Brahman was thought to be ‘attributeless’, above ‘name and form’ ‘not this, not that’.

In other words, a non-material force that is the origin of all that is good, inspiring, and creative. You can’t see it, but you can feel its physical effects.

Universal Spirit of Love and the 12-Step Program
Also, the loving spirit behind the compassion and kindness can be seen as a higher power. The person who has this universal spirit present in her attitude wishes the happiness of others and looks for ways to do them good. Believing in the power of love can give hope for our own difficulties.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” (Jimi Hendrix, electric guitarist)

Scholars say different things about the nature of the Eternal Buddha. Compared to the world of appearances, this transcendent Buddha nature is said to be the only true reality. Can we say that it includes the power of pure compassion?

The Divine Being and the 12-step program
Some think of a higher power as a Divine Being who feels love, understands wisely, and acts helpfully. For believers, this means that they can have a personal relationship with this spiritual source. An Eternal Spirit that fights for union with each one of us through mutual love.

The devotional form of Mahayana Buddhism seeks the help of the Eternal Buddha nature. Devotees pray privately to the various forms of the Buddha. This is done to get help with the trials of this life. For them, the Buddha not only teaches but saves.

“In the later Upanishads… the conception of Brahman becomes more personal… It is no longer ‘It’… It becomes possible to pray to Brahman in human terms and expect an answer… in one’s prayers.” (T. Patrick Burke, professor of religion)

Thus, the later sacred writings of Hinduism acknowledge this idea of ​​what the philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg called ‘the Divine Human’. A concept that could also be called, by the people of the western world, ‘the Christ within’.

Similarly, AA’s 12-Step program encourages members to use the Serenity Prayer to seek guidance.

“God grant me serenity

accept the things that I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.