well...i don't believe in "god" my higher power is the law of cause and effect...have some other ones that i use too. and i actually am also in aa.
I was a "high functioning alchoholic" had a job that paid well and that i went to drunk when i went. I never got lower than an "exceeds expectations" on my reviews.
My "bottom" was not the fear of dying (or I would have got sober several years earlier) it was the fear of having to live for maybe years and years and feel the way I was feeling.
Hope that helps...and check out the secular threads too.