~February 15th... "step two"...

2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.


What can we believe in?
A.A. does not demand belief;
Twelve Steps are only suggestions.
Importance of an open mind.
Variety of ways to faith.
Substitution of A.A. as Higher Power.
Plight of the disillusioned.
Roadblocks of indifference and prejudice.

Lost faith found in A.A.
Problems of intellectuality and self-sufficiency.
Negative and positive thinking.
Self-righteousness.
Defiance is an outstanding characteristic of alcoholics.
Step Two is a rallying point to sanity.
Right relation to God.
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part 2 of the first question...

Variety of ways to faith.
Substitution of A.A. as Higher Power.

"This is only one man's opinion based on his own experience, of course. I must quickly assure you that A.A.'s tread innumerable paths in their quest for faith. If you don't care for the one I've suggested, you'll be sure to discover one that suits if only you look and listen. Many a man like you has begun to solve the problem by the method of substitution. You can, if you wish, make A.A., itself your 'higher power.' Here's a very large group of people who have solved their alcohol problem. In this respect they are certainly a power greater than you, who have not even come close to a solution. Surely you can have faith in them. Even this minimum of faith will be enough. You will find many members who have crossed the threshold just this way. All of them will tell you that, once across, their faith broadened


Plight of the disillusioned.
Roadblocks of indifference and prejudice.

Consider next the plight of those who once had faith, but have lost it. There will be those who have drifted into indifference, those filled with self-sufficiency who have cut themselves off, those who have become prejudiced against religion, and those who are downright defiant because God has failed to fulfill their demands. Can A.A, experience tell all these they may still find a faith that works?

Sometimes A.A, comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have tried faith and found it wanting. They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith. Since both ways have proved bitterly disappointing, they have concluded there is no place whatever for them to go. The roadblocks of indifference, fancied self-sufficiency, prejudice, and defiance often prove more solid and formidable for these people than any erected by the unconvinced agnostic or even the militant atheist. Religion says the existence of God can be proved; the agnostic says it can't be proved; and the atheist claims proof of the nonexistence of God. Obviously, the dilemma of the wanderer from faith is that of profound confusion. He thinks himself lost to the comfort of any conviction at all. He cannot attain in even a small degree the assurance of the believer, the agnostic, or the atheist. He is the bewildered one.


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