“In the preceding chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic, if that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer. To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face. – pg. 44 We Agnostics, from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous
After first receiving alcohol addiction help one of the first few things that come up for us is the god issue. We might have issues with identifying, and believing in God especially if the god we grew up with was a source of punishment and damnation. The fact is that all we have to do is have the willingness to come up with a concept of a higher power that we believe can handle any aspect of our lives. When we are doing the work whether it be in a drug addiction detox, AA, or 30 day rehab program we can hopefully begin to see how our higher power had been doing for us what we could not do for ourselves this whole time. After we establish a conscious contact with a power greater then ourselves it is then and only then that we can go on to have a spiritual experience begin to truly heal.