Pubdate: Mon, 19 Jan 2004
Source: Daily Times, The (TN)
Copyright: 2004 Horvitz Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.thedailytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1455
Author: Steve Wildsmith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

YOUR SPIRIT NEEDS RECOVERY

Just For Today

One of the biggest misconceptions about recovery is that to belong to
a 12-step program, you have to be religious.

Take it from a guy who attends church on the twice-a-year plan --
religion is not a requirement of recovery. For that matter, neither is
a belief in the Judeo-Christian concept of God.

That doesn't mean that 12-step recovery programs are anti-religious or
anti-God. God, in fact, is mentioned throughout the literature of most
recovery fellowships. But each member is encouraged to find a god of
his or her understanding. Recovery doesn't define God -- only that for
the best chances of overcoming addiction, belief in a higher power is
essential.

In fact, the founders of the mother of all 12-step recovery programs,
Alcoholics Anonymous, took their spiritual principles from an
organization called The Oxford Group, founded in the United States in
1928. Both groups aimed for absolute standards of love, purity,
honesty and unselfishness, and it's been said that members of The
Oxford Group patterned their principles after the actions and
behaviors of Christ's disciples.

Founders of A.A. and it's sister organization, Narcotics Anonymous,
recognized early on that many people suffering from addiction to
alcohol and drugs come to recovery with a serious resentment against
God and organized religion.

My own story isn't much different. I was raised in church, but after
years of working in the cynical world of newspaper journalism and
covering all manner of wrecks, disasters, crimes and tragedies, I
began to question God. I wondered how He could let bad things happen
to good people, and later on, in my active addiction, I thought He was
punishing me.

I never stopped believing, but I turned my back on Him. Recovery
taught me to take responsibility for my actions, and that much of what
I'd experienced wasn't because I was being punished, but because I'd
made unwise choices that led to dire consequences.

Other people come into recovery having had bad experiences with
organized religion. A friend of mine recounts in his testimony how as
a teenager, his parents asked a minister to perform an exorcism.
Others grew up in such strictly religious households that they came to
recovery convinced that their souls were unsalvageable and that God
would want nothing to do with them.

Because recovery is a process of growth and change, there's no
requirement to believe in God. The only requirement for membership is
a desire to stop using drugs and alcohol. The 12 steps emphasize the
need to believe in something greater than ourselves, and although God
is used interchangeably, that something is referred to as a Higher
Power.

For me, the logic was simple: I believed wholeheartedly in something
more powerful than me. The drugs had already proven their dominance
over my mind, body and spirit. So if there was something that powerful
yet so dark and negative, there had to be something equally, if not
more, powerful that was good and kind.

Individual members pattern their recovery to suit their personal
beliefs. A friend with Cherokee blood in her veins has researched the
beliefs of her ancestors and refers to her Higher Power as the Great
Spirit. Another friend who came to recovery as a devout atheist
believes God is the collective consciousness of everyone in recovery.
Still another friend threw himself into church as much as he did
recovery and steadfastly proclaims Jesus as his Higher Power.

The point is that we all recognize that belief in a higher power is
ours to define. We don't condemn others for not believing the way we
do -- we accept their right to tailor their recovery to best fit their
needs and beliefs, just as we did.

Personally, my Higher Power serves as a guiding presence in my life
with whom I try to maintain constant contact. For years, my individual
willpower left me spiritually bankrupt. Thanks to recovery and the 12
steps, and my Higher Power, that void is gone, and just for today, I
feel whole again.

Steve Wildsmith is a recovering addict and the Weekend editor for The
Daily Times. His entertainment column and stories appear Fridays in
the Weekend section.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin