TheSecond Step:we came to believe that a Higher Power could return us

the sound judgment

spirituals that I abandoned early in adolescence: hope and faith.
Recovering those spiritual principles required humility and
honesty, spiritual principles that were also strange to me but that I already
I had started to practice inThe First Step.Thanks to them I had in the
Second step the necessary receptivity to give some credibility to
that which they called aHigher Powerand it reminded me too much of
God. He was key in this Second Step of the Twelve Steps.my accident
I find my friend on his knees.That shocked me. Also joining the
meeting companions praying embraced in a circle filled me with a
a force that intrigued me and I wanted to know it. Finally, the text addressed to the
agnostics in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (1993), pp. 41-53, me
led to reevaluating my 'intelligent' arguments about the existence of a
spiritual dimension and toto make myself stupidpto learn and grow. Here the
spiritual principles that I practiced in the Second Step:

1.Hope. It was when I considered the possibility that something larger

that I had the power to free myself from my obsession and compulsion. Look.
that it was just about holding the possibility, that it wasn't even about
decree a Higher Power, but rather that it could be that yes, that of
If there were something capable of working on me and removing it
obsession and the compulsion that characterized the addiction that was killing me.
2. Honesty. I always admitted that I believed without believing, that I acted 'as if'
"I would create" to see what effect it had on me and to check in that way if,
as they said in the literature and in the meetings, that of a Power
Supervisor was functioning. It was important to acknowledge my doubts to clarify them.
3. Receptivity. It was when I listened to the experiences of others although
Inside I thought, 'What a madness this one has.' It was also when I read.
with interest what the literature and the Twelve Steps guide said. I was
desperate and yearning for another way of living. This was the root.
of my receptivity and my hope.
4.Fe. "The belief in something intangible." Thus it defines it the It Works How and
Imagine, I who didn't even believe in what I saw, was going to
believe in something beyond, intangible. But the desperation was great and my
receptiveness as well. I was deeply surrendered without knowing it and if I had
to believe in something and that was called faith, so let's move forward as we say here.
Thus I placed my faith in a crucifix and began to pray as if my life
was at stake.
5. Humility. The recognition that we do not have all the answers.
Humble bridge, they said inthe meetingswhen they wanted to say that
you will listen and be receptive to what your colleagues said
much more time for me. My receptivity, my goodwill were evidence
of what he was being humble.

These were revolutionary principles in my life. They led me to rebuild my

identity and to act differently. It was here when I realized that the
recovery wasn't just about 'being clean' but transforming my
personality. The transformation required me to cultivate my spirituality. Of that
it was about the Second Step: to begin to believe in the world of the spirit. I
I was willing to do it.

I have already thanked you forthe surrenderythe receptivity.Now I will give them to you through the
gift of disposition. Because what good would it do me to give up and know
A lot about addiction and recovery if I wasn't doing anything about it?
But I, fromthat night when I asked for help,I had a disposition
extraordinary for change and would do whatever it took not to return
back and get a new life. It was the disposition another gift of yours for
push me towards recovery. You knew that it wasn't enough for me withthe
surrender and receptivity, I had to act to win.

The disposition will help you to believe

when in doubt and will keep you in the
path of recovery
At that time I was using the guides that the counselor gave me and I was working on the
Second Step of Alcoholics Anonymous. It was about being willing to believe.
that only a Higher Power could restore my sanity and I struggled,
I found it difficult with that Superior Power. I was receptive to the idea but I
there was a lack of willingness to take action.

That night I found a friend of mine on his knees praying and it struck me. He was
convicted of a crime and was going to prison. I was a 'good boy' in comparison
with him and I said to myself:

If this criminal is on his knees, how can I not do it?

It is a step that almost automatically takes place upon entering the

contact with the program.
When we see other people who have recovered and are
willing to tell us what they did, hope is reborn in us
sine
import how desperate our current situation may be.
Something that is worth highlighting is that the step does not say 'We believed'

fervently or We believed with enthusiasm, but We came to believe.

Because that
It's the only thing the program asks of us: 'To come to believe'. With that, it's

sufficient.
With that, our mind and spirit enter into the disposition of
opening
sufficient for the program to start entering into us.
When we arrived
To believe, the willingness to let ourselves be helped is born in us... and how
says the
known popular adage: When the student is ready, the teacher appears
master.
1 partOnce we have admitted that we are alcoholics, we move forward with our minds
open to the Second Step which says: "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore our sound judgment.

From this forceful statement, we realize that as alcoholics we lack

of "sound judgment." Now, what does it mean to not have sound judgment? Perhaps the simplest way to
describe it with some examples that we can find in the Big Book.

What kind of thinking predominates in the alcoholic who repeats again and again the
desperate experiment of the first cup? The friends who have reasoned with him, afterwards.
from a drunken spree that has brought him to the point of divorce or bankruptcy, they remain
they are puzzled when they see him go straight to the canteen. Why does he do it? What is he in?
thinking? (Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, page 33 - chapter 3 "More about the
"alcoholism", with permission from A.A. World Services, Inc.)

The previous paragraph is a simple yet powerful example. The alcoholic persists time and again.
time with that insane illusion that can control the cup, despite all the evidence
demonstrate exactly the opposite. Those lines describe how baffling and evident that
it is the loss of sound judgment, that is to say, the alcoholic mind continues to evaluate reality incorrectly.
and making totally outrageous judgments about his relationship with drink, or about an illusory
control over alcohol.
Now we will see Jim's story as a truly graphic and dramatic example of
the lack of sound judgment in the alcoholic: '... He agreed that he was an alcoholic and
that their condition was serious. They knew they were facing another stay at the center
treatment if he continued drinking. Moreover, he would lose his family, for which he felt a great
darling.
Despite all this, he got drunk again. We asked him to tell us exactly how.
It had happened. This is the story: "I went to work on Tuesday morning. I remember that I
I felt disgusted because I had to be a salesperson in a business that I had previously owned.
I exchanged a few words with the boss, but it was nothing serious. So I decided to go to the countryside in
I stopped my car to see a potential client. In the field, I felt hungry and I stopped at a place.
where there is a tavern. I had no intention of drinking, I only thought about eating a
sandwich. I also thought that I could find a client in that well-known place.
because I had frequented him for years. I sat at the table and ordered a sandwich and a glass
of milk. I wasn't thinking about drinking yet. Then I ordered another sandwich and decided to have another glass.
of milk.
Suddenly the idea crossed my mind that if I put an ounce of whisky to the
milk couldn't hurt me with a full stomach. I ordered the whiskey and poured it into the
milk. I vaguely realized that I wasn't being very bright, but I calmed down thinking that
I was drinking the liquor on a full stomach. The experiment was going so well that I ordered another one and
I added more milk to it. This didn't seem to bother me, so I did it again.
Thus began for Jim another journey to the treatment center. There was now the threat of
lockdown, the loss of family and employment, not to mention the intense physical suffering and
he well understood that the drink always caused him mental anguish. He knew himself well as an alcoholic. Despite this,
all the reasons not to drink were easily set aside in favor of the crazy idea of
I could drink whisky if I mixed it with milk.
Whatever the precise definition of the word is, we simply call it
madness. How else can such a disproportion in ability be called?
to think rationally?
Can you believe this is an extreme case? For us, it is not, because this way of
thinking has been a characteristic of each one of us. Sometimes we have reflected more than
Jim talks about the consequences but the curious mental phenomenon always occurred that,
parallel to sound reasoning, some insanely trivial excuse ran to take the
first cup. Our sanity was not enough to stop us; the insane idea prevailed. To
The next day we wondered, with all seriousness and sincerity, how it could have happened.
that.

The above is a very explicit example of the lack of sound judgment in reasoning.
of the alcoholic. At the end of Chapter 3, they describe the problem as a lack of defense.
mental effectiveness against the first drink, in other words, a complete lack of sound judgment. It also gives us
they talk about the solution that A.A. suggests to remedy that unhealthy way of evaluating
certain situations. The solution lies in a Higher Power than ourselves that we
restore sound judgment.

Once again we insist that, on certain occasions, the alcoholic has no defense.
effective mental against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor anyone
Another human being can provide such a defense. Your defense has to come from a Higher Power.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 40; Chapter 3 "More about alcoholism".

Part 2 Now that we have an approximate idea of what the authors mean by
loss of sound judgment let's see what we have to do to regain it through a Power
Superior to ourselves.

If a mere code of morality or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome the
If it weren't for alcoholism, many of us would have already recovered a long time ago.
But we discovered that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much effort we put in.
we could. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted,
In reality, we could wish for all this with all our might, but the necessary power not
it was there. Our human resources under the command of our will were not
sufficient, they failed completely.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power through which
we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But
Where and how were we going to find that Power? (A.A., page 41-42 - Chap. 4: "We the
agnostics

The authors tell us in the previous paragraph that no matter how solid our codes are
morals and philosophies of life, these will not free us from our bad relationship with alcohol, and
they remind us again that our fundamental problem is the lack of power against the
alcohol, and they talk to us about the convenience of finding a Higher Power outside of ourselves
as a genuine and LONG-LASTING solution.

Now, what do we need to find that Higher Power? We find the answer
at the end of the Big Book, in the 'Appendix II':

We want to express in the most emphatic way that (in light of our experience)
Any alcoholic who is able to honestly confront their problems can recover,
as long as you do not close your mind to all spiritual concepts. It can only be
defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
We found that no one should have difficulties with the spirituality of the program.
Goodwill, sincerity, and an open mind are the elements for recovery. But
these are essential.

There is a principle that is a barrier to all information, which is a refutation of

any argument that cannot fail to keep a man in a perpetual
Ignorance: the principle consists of despising before investigating.
Herbert Spencer