STEP TWO

‘Came to believe a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity’

Albert Einstein once said, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them’. Step two is how we begin to change our thoughts in an attempt to change our lives. 

There is a simple but profound line in the book that allows us to smoothly transition from step one, to step two; ‘crushed by a self-imposed crisis we had to face the proposition that G-d either is or He isn’t.’ (p.57)  Step two is choosing that He is. 

Step two is also a progression of step one;  we now come to believe that G-d is EVERYTHING and as a result, I’m clearly powerless. Seeing as we ended step one acknowledging that we are not the problem, but rather our lack of power is, it follows that the solution to that problem is to now seek that power. This is the conflict between our perceived self-sufficiency (which got us nowhere) and the concept of “G-d sufficiency”. 

The existence of a Higher Power needs to be accepted and we must try forget any preconceived notions and associations we have towards religion… Many of us ‘missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees’ (p. 47) Until now our own conception of G-d hasn’t been enough to keep us sober, therefore, it’s only a matter of being willing to believe in a G-d who could restore us to sanity.

We might not know where to find this Higher Power, but the Big Book explains that He is within us, it’s just that our ego/self-worship has blocked Him out. It is our role to uncover Him. ‘It wasn’t AA that had the closed mind, it was me. The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel… to acquire it, I only had to stop fighting.’ (12 Steps and 12 Traditions p.27)

This step should not be stressful to us, step two requires no action, just an awareness. We should pose this question to ourselves; ‘Is it possible that there is a creative force in this world that is more powerful than our thoughts/actions?’ The Big Book promises us that an affirmative answer, a willingness to believe this, will form concrete results. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to make an effort?! This method has clearly worked for those in a worse situation that we have found ourselves in; ‘when we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance on the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work, but the God idea did.’ (p. 52)

Step two brings us to the point of saying: ‘I am an addict and only a spiritual experience will conquer that’. Are we willing to believe this truth?