This is a central tenet in AA. It has been a recurring theme in many of my AA meetings lately. Last night, we all talked of finding a God of our own understanding. We went around the room and I heard each person’s perspective. It finally came my time to talk.
“I use the collective of this group as my higher power.” I said among other things.
“You will soon find a God of your understanding.” An old timer replied in response.
“I have found a higher power and that is the knowledge and wisdom from all of you.” I replied.
This sparked a fury of discussion after the meeting. Everyone wanted to share their experience with God and how it has kept them sober. A few got downright preachy.
“Only through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can you have the power to keep from picking up that bottle.” One fellow preached.
I listened to everyone who took the time to speak to me. I knew it was futile to argue about something as subjective as religion. I also like to remain anonymous about my mental illness in my real life. You see, I have to be very careful when it comes to religion. Because of my illness, I can quickly get carried away and have in the past. This is coming from a man who thought God was sending him messages through the television. I choose to remain agnostic and non-practicing when it comes to organized religions.
I visit some forums discussing alcoholics anonymous and sobriety. I was trying to find more information about agnosticism and AA. Many threads I was reading quickly became train wrecks when religion was thrown in the mix. Everyone has an opinion and many times a different view of how religion should be applied to AA. I quickly came to the conclusion that I will just have form my own opinions and find out what works for me by trial and error.
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