Originally Posted by
GetMeOut 
Maybe we need to downshift a bit here because I think some things are getting lost in translation. What I have come to understand as the meaning behind "fake it till you make it" is directed at atheists and agnostics like myself, because it is made pretty clear in the Big Book that unless we believe in a HP we are just not going to make it. That's what I'm referring to by the compulsion to fake it. I have indeed had several people in AA tell me that I have to have this spiritual awakening and find some HP or I'm just gonna be a drunk forever and I don't buy it. I was at a meeting once and one of the speakers outright said if you don't believe in God AA just isn't gonna work for you. OK, fine... Didn't go back there.
For me, the Big Book is more suggesting having my OWN understanding of what I believe or don't believe on HP. Not so much I must have a belief of my own. I understand how when members speak, they almost always drop the understanding and simply talk about the requirements for beliefs. I've always talked about understanding being the essential requirement either way pro or con as being sufficient for recovery.
This is how I apply the Big Book suggestions on my own sobriety which continues without trouble year after successful year.