Step 2 ...came to believe that a Power greater then ourselves could restore us to sanity. AA, NA, Al Anon
Step 2 in AA, NA, Al Anon, "coming to believe"
Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us. Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on this Step. True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and every ... meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 33
Step 2: We came "to believe" in what, one might ask?
Premise: One 12 step program co-founder often said; "a spiritual malady needs a spiritual cure."
We Come to believe in:
Part One: Spiritual Fellowship;
Premise: One 12 step program co-founder often said; "a spiritual malady needs a spiritual cure."
We Come to believe in:
Part One: Spiritual Fellowship;
A "Power greater than"
is often a sponsor!
Sponsor sponsee relationship is a key to recovery in any 12 step program.
Brandon Fergusons tag art for our Quotes book, sponsorship.
We come to believe, not on our own but through interaction with others. This builds faith. Fellowship; at meetings, hearing a speaker or someone with one day when we have 7! Hanging out with others before or after a meeting, via phone calls, an unconditional ride, handshake, hug, meal, kind word or from sponsorship. We find it amazing that we are all so different yet we are all the same. We share the same disease. We have a strong bond holding us together and it's working!
At the same time, it will be pointed out that all available medical testimony indicates that alcoholism (addiction) is a progressive illness, that it cannot be cured in the ordinary sense of the term, but that it can be arrested through total abstinence...
...a spiritual remedy to a spiritual illness is the key.
...a spiritual remedy to a spiritual illness is the key.
Nate, "Came to believe" at a young age...17!
Step 2, came to believe can be belief in a "power greater than," such as meetings or a sponsor ! This is the faith step.
One young female artists interpretation of step 2 (below) was that the power we needed lay within, as a new awareness. We would have never thought to ask her to illustrate step 2 this way, but now that it's done it exemplifies well our adage:
"We all come to our own understanding of the program"
Alexnadria Datts, Moore College of Art and Design student, contributor to our book;
The Twelve Steps Quotes c 2011
Power greater than as inner awareness, this artists concept. We all come to our own understanding of the fellowship.
A Sponsorship Quote
I think everyone should have a sponsor and a role model, but that they shouldn't take one person's opinion to be what we call final assessment or judgment about how life is supposed to be. Sean Paul I.e. Balance is needed.
(but our own best thinking is usually so flawed, what's to loose? Get a sponsor!)
Sponsorship was a key element on a spiritual journey by the monks who have lived by the 12 steps of humility for 1500 years. Now sponsorship comes to life again in AA / NA as Bill Wilson would be asked by hospitals in the 1930's to "sponsor an alcoholic patient of low ends."
Thus a sponsor tried to help the unfortunate from returning, drunk.
I think everyone should have a sponsor and a role model, but that they shouldn't take one person's opinion to be what we call final assessment or judgment about how life is supposed to be. Sean Paul I.e. Balance is needed.
(but our own best thinking is usually so flawed, what's to loose? Get a sponsor!)
Sponsorship was a key element on a spiritual journey by the monks who have lived by the 12 steps of humility for 1500 years. Now sponsorship comes to life again in AA / NA as Bill Wilson would be asked by hospitals in the 1930's to "sponsor an alcoholic patient of low ends."
Thus a sponsor tried to help the unfortunate from returning, drunk.
Step 2, draft by Skuds Mkensie and Bill Booth for The Twelve Steps Quotes and an all new illustrated 12 Step Graphic Novel in the making. www.batshitart.com
.
Part Two: Faith;
In the Second step the word "Power" has a capitalized "P" I.e. a deity.
Literature talks more of faith in "a Higher Power" or of a "God" in Step 2 than of fellowship. A fact, but for so many today fellowship is the "Power" that comes to us first, with the contemplation of God coming later.
Sometimes, our faith in God itself is a gift from a Higher Power.
In step 2 we grow in faith in both regards, in fellowship and in a "Higher Power or Power greater than ourselves" as the fellowship literature says. We then are ready to proceed on to step 3 where we turn our will and life over to that power.
A "Power greater than ourselves" is simply suggested to be loving and greater than, and "of your understanding."
In step 2, bottom line, we are challenged to find faith in this Power. If agnostic or atheist we are asked to have an open mind, but are told we are fine holding on to any belief. We strive for the new humility needed to look at the collective experience of those who came before us, in our fellowship or in the human experience in general.
Conclusion: we grow into a new humble perspective on both our fellowship "power" and faith in a "Higher Power", as we understand it, and sometimes we do not understand. We grow in faith regardless.
Note: re: fellowship of one in recovery helping another, with faith; This is why churches alone. have trouble making a lasting impact on the diseased member, or why a fellowship like a rehab or a sober/clean bowling league alone has little affect.
The literature of AA NA and Al Anon is predicated on your coming to believe, in faith, until faith develops. Our favorite quote on this regard was made by a newcomer, and sent in with a tattoo by one Dave U., who when with one year, starting his second step stated: "YOU DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS STEP TO WORK IT" FAITH JUST "IS", we do recover!
This belief comes to us usually by seeing the miracle happening in others. We grow in faith by observation. We learn to have faith. And sometimes faith itself is a gift, from that very Higher Power we are coming to believe in!
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question, "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built. www.aa.org Big Book p.47
In the Second step the word "Power" has a capitalized "P" I.e. a deity.
Literature talks more of faith in "a Higher Power" or of a "God" in Step 2 than of fellowship. A fact, but for so many today fellowship is the "Power" that comes to us first, with the contemplation of God coming later.
Sometimes, our faith in God itself is a gift from a Higher Power.
In step 2 we grow in faith in both regards, in fellowship and in a "Higher Power or Power greater than ourselves" as the fellowship literature says. We then are ready to proceed on to step 3 where we turn our will and life over to that power.
A "Power greater than ourselves" is simply suggested to be loving and greater than, and "of your understanding."
In step 2, bottom line, we are challenged to find faith in this Power. If agnostic or atheist we are asked to have an open mind, but are told we are fine holding on to any belief. We strive for the new humility needed to look at the collective experience of those who came before us, in our fellowship or in the human experience in general.
Conclusion: we grow into a new humble perspective on both our fellowship "power" and faith in a "Higher Power", as we understand it, and sometimes we do not understand. We grow in faith regardless.
Note: re: fellowship of one in recovery helping another, with faith; This is why churches alone. have trouble making a lasting impact on the diseased member, or why a fellowship like a rehab or a sober/clean bowling league alone has little affect.
The literature of AA NA and Al Anon is predicated on your coming to believe, in faith, until faith develops. Our favorite quote on this regard was made by a newcomer, and sent in with a tattoo by one Dave U., who when with one year, starting his second step stated: "YOU DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS STEP TO WORK IT" FAITH JUST "IS", we do recover!
This belief comes to us usually by seeing the miracle happening in others. We grow in faith by observation. We learn to have faith. And sometimes faith itself is a gift, from that very Higher Power we are coming to believe in!
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question, "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built. www.aa.org Big Book p.47
Step 2 Quote from: The Twelve Steps Quotes,
'you don't have to understand this step to work it!'
Dave U. a newcomer shared, and then got the tattoo below!
'you don't have to understand this step to work it!'
Dave U. a newcomer shared, and then got the tattoo below!
 |  |
Step 2, "we", came to believe that a power greater than ourselves "could restore us to sanity." In time, "the program" and the 12 steps can affect us, no matter what our situation. In all seriousness, even those with severe mental health issues have found growth and stability from a fellowship, sponsor and the steps.
power as fellowship in step 2 is often where we start on this step
Another fellowship quote...
How many desolate creatures on the earth have learnt the simple value of fellowship, in a hospital when near the deathbed.
. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Twelve Steps Quotes
How many desolate creatures on the earth have learnt the simple value of fellowship, in a hospital when near the deathbed.
. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Twelve Steps Quotes
 In step 2 we gain faith even though surrounded by darkness and our old ways of self-centeredness Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark. - Rabindranath Tagore
There are only two ways to live . . . one is as though nothing is a miracle. . . the other is as if everything is. - Albert Einstein |  Brandon Ferguson illustrating his idea of coming to sanity via the 12 steps of AA or NA |
Step 2, is about faith!
 The monks who wrote the first version of the 12 steps in 520 AD always say: we crawl walk run only to fall and crawl walk run again and again throughout a lifetime |  AA Step 2, this too shall pass |
Conclusion:Fellowship or God? Try both! Faith in your fellowship with a little help from "God" as you understand Him, Her, It, Creator...as together, they make a strong foundation leading to a restoration of sanity!
Time to move on...Step 3 ?
and on to STEP 3
Not to offend, but our restorations to sanity do happen for almost everyone, as even those with mental health issues often do recover.
Ready to write on step 2?
Blank lined pages, no opinions, for 12 step step-work.
Or a book of 12 step quotes?
Spiritually priced and shipped free to inmates.
 200 plus blank worksheets for steps 1 -12 with art! motivates and organizes step-work. |  324 pages of FUN quotes and original 12 step art, all on the principles |