I once heard a recording of an AA speaker who was an ordained priest say that no one understands God and that anyone who says they do is wrong. Of course, he’s entitled to this view, and—who knows?—he may be right, but I reverted to the AA literature to see what AA says about this question.
“3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” (Chapter 5, Big Book)
“When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach. That was growth, but if we wished to grow we had to begin somewhere. So we used our own conception, however limited it was.” (Chapter 4, Ibid.)
“We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.” (Chapter 4, Ibid.)
“Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God.” (Chapter 2, Ibid.)
“We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.” (Chapter 6, Ibid.)
From the above, I take the following points:
- The programme encourages me to acquire an understanding of spiritual matters
- I do this through enquiry, consideration, action, experience, and subsequent reflection
- As we understood Him suggests the understanding also encompasses God
- That understanding of God will not be complete but is authentic
- That understanding of God is dynamic not static: it grows over time
- The understanding is achieved most chiefly through building an active, working relationship with God.
When I was new and over the years I’ve been sober, I’ve needed to consider and reconsider my spiritual and religious beliefs. The programme encourages this. Through alternation between consideration and action, I’ve made progress. I have not needed to figure it all out first. But I have not needed to shut down my critical faculties either. The only prerequisite is open-mindedness, in other words not starting the investigation with a conclusion, for instance that reality can be discerned only by scientific measurement or that God is a priori unknowable.