Step 2
“Came to Believe that a Power Greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
READ: Big Book. P. 52 in “We Agnostics”. Explain that an agnostic not only having no relationship with God, but it can also mean a skeptic to the concept of a power greater than themselves.
P. 52-53 “We were having trouble with personal relationships” through to “God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?” Step 2.
READ: Step 2 in 12 and 12.
Step 2 is nothing more than the belief in electricity, on a bigger scale. We plug something in, trusting it will work because it’s connected to the source of power. We can’t see electricity, and we can’t prove that it’s really there except when we see the result of connecting to that power.
Of course many of us have baggage with the church, or have had bad experiences with heavy life circumstances that have left us feeling abandoned. We don’t understand who God is, why He would let horrible things happen if he’s really in control. We naturally want to have an answer for everything, and we have a human desire to understand.
So I offer up to you this for consideration: maybe it’s not understandable. Detaching from the word GOD could be the first step of this. (For the purpose of the steps, I will use the word “God” and the term “Higher Power”/HP interchangeably.) But once we throw out some of our old ideals, false narratives, and accept that the church is just full of humans: broken, searching, judgmental humans….. then we can start a fresh page with a Higher Power.
Consider that Letting Go of our past baggage with God/The Church/ is all going to be useful in determining what you DON’T want to believe in as well as what you do. As you meditate on these thoughts, remember if you’ve grown up in the church you may have people telling you things like “you’ve been deceived” and other nonsense. Just thank them for their concern. Remember that what you believe is NONE of their business, and you will always get negative pushback when trying to move forward. It’s like that one friend who knows you’re on a diet and instead of helping support your goals, orders a dessert for you because they don’t want to be indulging alone.
So maybe we don’t know what’s good for us based on our Religion & Philosophy college courses, and perhaps it’s time to consider that maybe God is much bigger than we ever thought in our Sunday School class. We do this by setting aside everything we *THINK* we know….. (The “Set Aside Prayer”.)
Set Aside Prayer. “God, please help me set aside everything I THINK I KNOW about myself, my disease, these steps, and especially you…For an OPEN MIND and a NEW EXPERIENCE with myself, my disease, these steps, and especially you.”
The “Set Aside Prayer” is not in the Big Book as we say it today. However, here are some references to the concept:
“I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out the window.” (BB P. 42)
“We found as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that power, which is God.” (BB P. 46)
“Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.” (BB. P. 47)
“He finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be as prejudiced for as long as some of us were.” (BB. P. 48)
“We threw up our hands in doubt and said, ‘We don’t know.’” (BB. P. 53)
“Some of us had tried to hold onto our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.” (BB P. 58)
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”—Herbert Spencer (BB. P. 568, “The Spiritual Experience”)
Putting Pen to Paper:
If you’re really having trouble, take a piece of paper and fold it in half or draw a line down the middle. On the left side list all you were taught or all you believe about what God is. If you have no idea, write “Nothing.” On the right side, list what you would imagine God would be if you could design Him, or Who You would want Him to be.
Now, rip the paper down the middle and throw away the left side. You are now left with the God of your understanding; a God you will feel comfortable praying to.
Example:
LEFT:
Full of Wrath
Vengeful
Judgemental
Arrogant and Only Pleased if I Worship Only Him
Loving, but Looks Down on Me
Will Put Me Through Tough Things Just to Test Me
Sitting back with Arms Crossed, Waiting for me to Impress Him with my Obedience
Will Only Bless Me When I Do What He Wants
Gives Me the Bible Which He Purposefully Laughs as I Struggle with Confusion While Reading it
Has a Plan for Me, but If I Don’t figure out What it is, I’ll Miss My Entire Life Purpose
RIGHT:
Freely Gives Peace
Freely Gives Unconditional Love
Speaks to Me Gently and Sweetly
Wants Only Good Things for Me
Will Not Punish Me
Turns Pain and Hardship into a Beautiful Masterpiece
Wants Me to Find Joy and Happiness, and to Keep Doing What Brings Me Both
Holds Many Mysteries for Me to Discover and Personalize; Doesn’t Have to be “His Way”
Has a Plan for my Life that Is Impossible to Screw it Up
Is Delighted with the New Way that I Pray… (Me Listening and Not Speaking Much)
Is Proud of Me and the Abilities He’s Given Me to Help Other Children of God
Thinks I’m Beautiful and Smart
Adores Me Even Though I’m Just One Grain of Sand on a Huge Beach Filled with His Children
Knows me By Name and I’m Precious to Him
The bottom line is this: Let’s say you get to the end of your life and you die. You discover there is no heaven/hell, no higher power at all, there’s just nothing. And you’ve believed in a power greater than yourself, for a bunch of years and experienced life-changing peace and joy. Do you imagine you’d feel pissed off? Duped? I imagine most of us wouldn’t actually care. After one experiences a psychic change, we’d spent the later part of our lives feeling a spiritual connection, a reverent humming inside our soul, feeling one with ourselves and others, connected by our humanity and also by a universe whose expansion is too great, too infinite to imagine or define.
Remember: NO ONE, EVER can tell you how to define the God of your understanding, because at the end of the day, you live with your own self. No one can or should choose your Higher Power for You. It’s Your Decision alone.
Remember: Openness is what we learn in Step 2. Just be open to possibilities.