Originally Posted by
soberlicious 
My only problem comes in when people tell me that it simply cannot be done without an outside force, because that certainly isn't a universal truth.
That was one of my main issues with AA, and for me that would have gone against everything I believe that long pre-dates alcohol addiction. I just couldn't go there, instead I used it as an excuse to keep drinking (what the hell, I'm one of the unfortunates anyways). For me, the solution was in the other direction - personal empowerment, not reliance on an outside power that isn't me, and understanding that was a pivotal point in my own recovery.
This isn't religion, per se, but it's certainly a religion-based concept, handing our fates over to a greater external power, and that's certainly what it meant to the AA founders who were religious and wrote frequently about God. It works great for many people, it doesn't work at all for many others, and maybe everyone else is somewhere in between.
I firmly believe, whatever works for you is what you should do, and that holds for belief or non-belief in a higher power, too.
