Can't find a higher power? Here's a profound thought
 

I am not selling any program here nor suggesting anything but have been reading posts and a thought came to mind.

I've seen people say that they can't do some programs because they're not spiritual nor do they believe in a greater being.

Why is it then that we don't have a problem blaming our AV as though it's a separate entity than our true selves, and give it that much power over us, yet we can't find our way to believe in a higher power?

Why can we place belief in something that has no tangible existence that helps us to decide to drink but can't find our way to have faith in something that will help us to stay sober?

Just a random thought.

I have never said personally that the AV is a separate entity it's my addiction my alcoholism

Im also a man of faith but I don't push it on anyone I think faith is just that faith... you either got it or you don't I'm not saying your pushing it btw just that if you have faith you have faith

I see where your coming from speaking about agnostics & atheists I respect them both it's not for me or for anyone to have faith it's to find faith for yourself

you litrelly have it or you don't

I do x

good stuff, LadyBlue.

imo, everyone who comes on here that cant stop drinking already has a higher power working in their life- alcohol.
but its not one that helps.

When I use the term AV , I use it to identify any and all positive thoughts about future alcohol use. All my thoughts are mine and not separate from 'me' , but it is helpful to segregate certain thoughts and focus on their content.
Thoughts like 'just one more time ' or 'just to be sociable' or 'that was good/bad I need to celebrate/soothe myself' are thoughts that if I acted on would mean I decided to drink which would go against my decision to commit to abstinence, run foul of my Big Plan.
The 'AV' is a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings about alcohol use that I have , recognizing and dismissing them is what I call kicking the AV's butt, though I do not view 'it' as an actual entity separate from myself, they're my thoughts (they just suck).
Prior to consciously identifying those types of thoughts and deciding to not act on them, it felt like 'something' had control over my poor choices and perhaps that gave me some comfort in a way , in that it wasn't 'entirely' my fault . My addiction wasn't entirely my own doing 'something' some how was victimizing me and to whatever degree I was at its mercy.
Once I changed perspective , looked at the fact that it was just 'me' in 'here' , I was able to realize I did have the power to make better choices , pretty much right when I stopped looking to blame something , anything other then my thoughts and my actions.
And I gained faith, too. Faith in myself, I no longer doubt whether or not I 'have' what it takes to be a quitter, right when I realized I should never have had the thought in first place, all that accomplished was inaction in ending my addiction.
That being said, get out there and kick some AV butt! (It really is a mind game, a very winnable one!)

I think I may have posted this before, but it's worth reposting. Really makes sense to me. And you don't have to be a Buddhist to believe it.

"Someone asked me once what “Higher Power” a Buddhist could choose to believe in if he or she became a member of a twelve-step program that required such a belief. I think that the fact that you can’t drink too much alcohol without becoming very ill — addiction being an illness, after all — is evidence enough that the Rule of the Universe is a benevolent Higher Power that wishes us not to become alcoholics. I would trust in the law of cause and effect as my Higher Power."



Excerpt From: "Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death & Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye" by Brad Warner. Scribd.
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My HP, and I happen to have a strong faith, said, 'It's all up to you, Buddy. Here's some tools you can use, and here's what you need to know: Timshel'.

I looked it up, and He was right!