Step Book - Step 2:

"We have come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity."  
(excerpt) - I.

As the newcomer reads this Step, they may face a serious dilemma. How many times have we heard newcomers lament: "What have you done to us! You convinced us that we are alcoholics and that we have lost control of our lives. Then, when we had reached a state of complete helplessness, you declared that only a Higher Power can free us from our addiction. Yet there are among us those who are unwilling to believe in God; others are unable to; still others—though they believe in God's existence—do not trust that He will perform such a miracle. You deceived us! How do we move forward now?"  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, p. 26]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - II.  

(on skeptics)

Let’s consider the first one—the fighter—who says they are unwilling to believe. Their state of mind can be characterized by a kind of barbarism. The philosophy of life in which they have basked until now has been shaken. They think it’s bad enough that they had to admit that alcohol has defeated them. Now, even though the acknowledgment is painful, they are faced with an impossible lesson. Indeed, how beautifully they imagined how humanity evolved from ancient times through unicellular organisms to become pioneers of evolution and the only God of the universe! And now they must give all this up to save themselves?

Their sponsor simply smiles at this. This is when the newcomer’s cup overflows. This is the beginning of the end! Indeed, it is. The end of their old life is approaching, and the dawn of their new life is breaking. Their sponsor likely encourages them: "Don’t beat yourself up. This fiery ring isn’t as tight as you think. This isn’t just my experience. A friend of mine was once the vice president of the American Atheists Association. Yet he jumped through it like a breeze. [...]  

I can also tell you how to lighten your soul. You don’t even have to struggle. Pay attention to three things.

First: Alcoholics Anonymous does not require you to be a believer. It is simply a suggestion from the Twelve Steps.  
Second: To get sober and stay sober, you don’t have to complete all Twelve Steps at once. As I look back, I took my steps gradually.

Third: All that is necessary is that you be open. There’s no point in debating whether the chicken or the egg came first. I’ll repeat: it’s only important that you be open and set aside all bias."  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 26-27]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - III.  

(on the Higher Power)

(Sponsor:) If you wish, you can consider A.A. your "higher power." Here is a substantial group of people who have resolved their alcohol problems. In this regard, they are clearly stronger than you, as you have not yet approached the solution. Therefore, you can trust them. Even this minimal faith is enough. You will find many members who crossed this threshold in this way. They will all say that when they got through this, their faith was strengthened and deepened. Free from the obsession of alcohol, their lives changed inexplicably, leading them to believe in a Higher Power, and most began to talk about God.  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 28-29]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - IV.  

(on the faithless)

Now consider the predicament of those who once believed but have lost their faith. Among us are those who, over the years, have succumbed to indifference and complacency and have thus distanced themselves. Others have been prejudiced against religion.

There are also those who have rebelled because God did not fulfill their wishes. Can A.A.'s experience say to all of these that they too can find the faith that bears fruit? Sometimes it is harder for those who have lost their faith to accept A.A. than for those who have never believed. They feel that they have already tried living with faith and without it. Since they have been disappointed in both, they feel there is nowhere to turn. Indifference, complacency, prejudice, and rebellion can sometimes be more difficult barriers for them to overcome than those faced by a skeptic or even an outright atheist.

The religious claim that God's existence is provable;  
the skeptic claims that it is unprovable;  
and the atheist believes that God’s nonexistence is provable.  
It is clear that for someone who has strayed from the path of faith, this dilemma causes serious confusion. They feel they have lost the strength that comes from their conviction. They cannot gain even the slightest certainty from the believer, the skeptic, or even the atheist. Their mind is filled with confusion.

Any A.A. member can say this to the wayward: "Indeed, we too left the faith of our childhood behind. The excessive self-confidence of our youth misled us. [...] But then alcohol began to take control of us. When we finally understood that we were losing, and another blow could knock us out of the game, we were compelled to seek the path of lost faith. We found it again in A.A. You can find it too."  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 29-30]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - V.

Another issue is the case of the man or woman suffering from spiritual arrogance. To them, we might say:  
"We were like this too—we had more brains than we needed. As children, we were proud when adults considered us mature for our age. Through our education, we became as inflated as a balloon, although we carefully disguised this before others. Secretly, we felt that our intellectual abilities placed us above everyone else.

Scientific progress spoke to us that there is nothing man cannot accomplish. Knowledge is unlimited power. Reason can conquer nature. And since we believed we were smarter than anyone else (at least we thought so), it became clear that our thinking could lead to victory. We replaced the God of our fathers with the God of reason. Ultimately, the drink made a different decision.

We performed well in the first round, but then we suffered a humiliating defeat. We saw that we needed to rethink things; otherwise, we would perish. We then found many among A.A. members who once thought similarly to us. They helped us put an end to our arrogance. By their own examples of life, they showed us that humility and intellect can coexist well when humility takes first place. As we embarked on this path, we became partakers of the gift of living faith. This faith is something you can also receive."  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 30-31]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - VI.

Another group of A.A. members confesses:  
"We became utterly disgusted with religion and all its manifestations. We said the Bible was full of nonsense. We knew many verses by heart, but the genealogies distracted us from the essence. In some places, it set the moral bar impossibly high, while in others, it set it very low. After all, it was the religious bigots who shut the door on us. We felt schadenfreude at the hypocrisy, blind faith, and disgusting eye-rolling typical of many ‘believers,’ even in their Sunday best.  
What schadenfreude we felt in proclaiming that millions of ‘believers’ slaughter each other in the name of God! This, of course, meant that our negative thinking pushed out the positive.

When we got to A.A., we realized this was just chest-thumping. By exaggerating the sins of religious people to the extreme, we felt superior. Moreover, we could turn a blind eye to our own shortcomings. Our sin was precisely the hypocrisy we condemned in others. Maintaining such superficial appearances undermined our faith. When we finally had to come to A.A., we began to see things differently."  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 31-32]

Step Book - Step 2  

(excerpt) - VII.



As psychiatrists have established, one of the most glaring traits of many alcoholics is defiance. Thus, it is no wonder that many of us have defied God Himself. Sometimes it was because God did not bring us everything from heaven according to our wish list, as a greedy child expects from Santa Claus. More often, it was because we had to suffer a severe blow. At that time, we believed that God had abandoned us as well. The girl we wanted to marry changed her mind; no matter how much we prayed for her better judgment to return, it just didn’t.

We prayed for healthy children, and either sick ones were born or none at all. We prayed for professional advancement, but that did not happen either. Our loved ones, whom we relied on, were "called away by the Lord." Then, when we became drunkards, we pleaded with God for deliverance. But nothing came of it. This filled our cup: "To hell with faith!" we said in the end.

In the A.A. community, it became clear how futile our defiant behavior had been. We did not inquire what God's will might be for us. Rather, we instructed Him on what He should do. We realized that a person cannot believe in God while simultaneously defying Him. Faith is trust, not defiance. In A.A., we could see the fruits of this faith: men and women who had been saved from ultimate catastrophe. 

We saw how they faced difficulties and trials, how they were able to rise above them. We saw how they accepted impossible situations calmly; neither protesting against them nor fleeing from them. This was not only faith but a faith that proved true under all circumstances. Soon, we decided that humility was the price of this, and we would pay it as well.  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 32-33]

Step Workbook - Step 2  

(excerpt) - VIII.

Now let us consider the man who proclaims himself religious but reeks of alcohol. He believes himself to be pious. He is painfully conscientious in fulfilling his religious obligations. He is sure that he believes in God; he just doesn’t believe that God believes in him. He swears on heaven and earth that he will never touch alcohol, yet he not only drinks again and again but always with worse consequences. He bravely tries to fight against alcohol, calling on God for help, but the help does not come. So where is the flaw?

For clergy, doctors, friends, and families, the well-meaning and striving alcoholic is a perplexing enigma. Not for A.A. members. Many of us were similar, but we eventually found the key to the riddle. It lies not in the quantity of faith, but in its quality. Our blindness also lay in this. We thought we were humble, but we were not. We thought we were seriously practicing our religion, but honest self-examination revealed that we were superficial. Or, falling to the other extreme, we sank into emotional excess, confusing it with true piety. In either case, we asked for something in return for nothing. In reality, we did not sweep our own doorstep so that God’s saving grace could take possession of us and drive out our obsession. We never made a heartfelt and genuine inventory of ourselves, never reconciled with those we had harmed, and we never gave anything to anyone of our own volition, without hope of repayment.

Our prayers were also false. They said: "Give me what I ask for" - not "Thy will be done." We did not truly understand the love of God or man. Therefore, we lived in self-deception and were unable to receive the grace that could restore our spiritual health.  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pp. 33-34]


Step Workbook - Step 2  

(excerpt) - IX.

It is indeed rare for an active alcoholic to have any idea how foolishly they are living; or if they do see their foolishness, to be able to confront it. Some may confess to having an "alcohol problem," but they vehemently deny being mentally ill. In their blindness, the world is also an accomplice, as it does not understand the difference between moderate drinking and alcoholism. "Soundness of mind" means "the health of the mind." An alcoholic, soberly evaluating their destructive behavior—whether the victim of that destruction is the dining room furniture or their own moral strength—cannot attribute "sound mind" to themselves.

Consequently, the Second Step is a point of strength-gathering for all of us. 

Skeptics, atheists, or former believers, we all share a common ground when it comes to this Step. True humility and impartiality can lead to faith, and every A.A. meeting assures us that God will restore our health if we set our relationship with Him right.  
[12 Steps and 12 Traditions, p. 34]