STEP TWO: “We Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
This is a big deal for us alcoholics. Let’s look at the first half of step 2. “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves”. This is important because first we had to come up with our own concept of a higher power. What does that look like? How is that possible when most of us who were raised with a God and were brought up with these ideas that he was damning, and shaming? Or when we think about God we think about religion and the feelings around it such as fear and judgment? Many of us didn’t come to AA thinking the greatest things or with the best feelings when it came to a higher power. After all if a higher power existed how could he/she/it let all these horrible things happen to us? We didn’t realize that our problems were of our own making. We were after all the perfect example of self will run riot. Many of us were unaware of the fact that we took over our lives and kicked “GOD” out of it. We were playing God until we found alcohol addiction help. In AA and through the second step we got to come up with our own beliefs and concepts of our own higher power. By doing that we found a loving and caring source which we could have faith in to take on all of our life problems. Many outsiders might think that sounds wishy washy to be able to create our own idea of GOD but it’s hard to imagine anything other than this working. Especially considering how defiant we are when we first get sober. Being told what we had to believe in wouldn’t have gone over too well. Now let’s take a look at the second half of the first step “could restore us to sanity”. This requires us to look at the fact that we were indeed insane before we sought out help whether it be through an addiction program in Los Angeles, AA, or a drug rehab facility in LA.When we were out there using it was very much insane. It went hand in hand with the unmanageability. The definition of insanity is “the condition of being insane. A derangement of the mind.” That could definitely be applied to our behavior surrounding drinking. Through this step we learn to trust in an infinite power rather than our finite selves and through that we are restored to sanity. What a remarkable blessing for a group of people who all at one point and time felt helpless, alone, crazy, and scared.