Who is My Higher Power?

Do I have to pick just one?

A “Power greater than ourselves”  hmmm.  I can think of a few:

God.  The P in Power is capitalized, so this must be pushing us to look to Him.  You don’t usually capitalize letters in the middle of the sentence, so God is my first choice.  God is a wonderful Higher Power.  He’s that little voice you hear in your head when you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, AKA The “voice of reason”.  He’s already in us all.  Sometimes it’s a good idea to “go with your gut”.  That’s God thinking for you.  You know when He’s talking to you.

How Did He Get Here?

There were the three Wisemen of the east, and they took from man the crown of life, the thing that would make us the happiest, and took it away from them. And they said, ”Now we took it away from them, what are we going to do with it?” One of them guys said I’ll tell you what we’ll do, we’ll take it to the highest, highest crevice on the face of the earth in the highest, highest mountain, and we’ll hide it up there, and they’ll never be able to find it. And the other two said yeah, but you know how they are, they’ll hunt and they’ll search and they’ll eventually find it. The third one said I’ll tell you what, we’ll take it to the deepest, deepest crevice of the deepest ocean and hide it there, and they’ll never think about looking for it there. He said, Yeah, but you know how they are, they’ll hunt and they’ll search and they’ll eventually find it. The third one said, I’ll tell you what we’ll do, we’ll hide it within himself, and he’ll never think about looking for it there.

(Taken from Transcripts of Journey to Recovery with Joe M. and Charlie P., The Big Book Comes Alive, Recorded in Laughlin, Nevada, August 1988)

But, maybe, just maybe, if we look deep within ourselves, we can find that light and let it guide us.

Another Higher Power

My wife.  I also love my wife. She lets me know the right thing to do, too.  It was she who got me back into the rooms again.  She had a power that I did not have to get me to start going to AA meetings again.  I’ve already got good experience at leaving the decision-making to my higher power!  I let her choose how to decorate the house, who we go to visit on the weekends, and whether or not we’ll be looking after the grandchildren on any given day.  Giving over to this Higher Power has great rewards.  I don’t make any poor decisions.  I build strong, healthy relationships.  I have a happy spouse!  And I certainly don’t drink.

Further Higher Powers

The Rooms.  Giving my will over to the other A.A.s is meaningful. I can listen to people who are struggling with the same struggles as I am.  With the room as my higher power, I hear their voices, telling their stories, echoing in my head, reminding me where I am and what’s important. I have the collective experience of the room, guiding my decision-making process.

I like to think of the Room as my higher power sometimes.  It understands me.  It speaks my language.  It’s been through everything I’ve been through, at least more than once!  It’s (members have) lost jobs and wives, wrecked cars, broken homes, and spent time in both jail and rehab.  Let those stories ring in my ears when I’m deciding what I really want to do next!

And why not?

Why can’t I have multiple higher powers?  The Greeks did!  The Romans did! The ancient Egyptians and the Vikings, too! It was called Polytheism.  There were all sorts of Gods: the Gods of War (Ragnarök, Ares, Mars) or the Gods of Love (Hathor and Cupid).  They held festivals to their Gods, prayed to their Gods, and made offerings to their Gods.  Sometimes even consulted with the Oracle to better understand their Gods.  So, maybe I can have multiple Higher Powers, each one tailored to my various needs.

Who My Higher Power is NOT

Me. I am not my Higher Power.  My Higher Power is outside of me and is out of my control.  This is different than just being out of control.  The old adage, “Your Higher Power can be this coffee cup.”  A classic AA teaching reminds us that, although insignificant, a coffee cup can be a higher power because it is outside of us.  It’s not us.  Let it make the decisions because we tried and we failed. We need help.  We need to find God, as we understand Him, to restore us, our thinking, our health, our relationships, and our decision-making process to sanity.