“We found, too, that we had been worshippers. What a state of mental gooseflesh that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves? And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? How much did these feelings, these loves, these worships, have to do with pure reason? Little or nothing, we saw at last. Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence? It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one form or another we had been living by faith and little else.” (Chapter 4, Big Book)
“Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.” (ibid.)
Some obvious false gods I have worshipped:
Sex
Money
Power
Prestige
Comfort
Thrills
Looks
Some less obvious false gods I have worshipped:
Technology
Commerce
Society
Government
Ideology
Progress
All these have seemed to promise solutions to problems; salvation, in fact.
These domains or principles of course have their merits and flaws, materially.
But as the source of my salvation? No.
The source of my salvation is God.
Less me.
More God.
No me.
All God.