Step 2

Please note: The use of the term "Higher Power" in the following paragraphs is not meant to be misconstrued as an over-riding of your own belief system. The term is being used generically. Feel free to substitute whatever name, term or phrase that resonates with you. The use of term "believe" is not accidental or capricious. One of the most powerful tools we have to change our reality is the tool of believing. Whatever it is that we believe in should remain subject to growth and/or change as more is revealed. Please do not define your Higher Power, for as the "Tao Te Ching" states in the first paragraph; "The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name."

 

Step Two reads "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." For our working of the 12 Steps we will define insanity as our repeated unsuccessful attempts to exercise control over the events that affect our lives. The purpose of this step is to offer us hope and to provide a bridge to Step Three. The need for a bridge of hope is significant at this juncture. If we were left alone at this point after having admitted we were powerless and that our lives were less spiritual we could become so depressed that we might lose our way along our path. Step Two teaches us how we can come to believe and what we come to believe in.

 

How we come to believe is a twofold process. First we look to those around us who have come to believe. If we can see how their coming to believe in a Power greater than themselves has positively impacted their lives then we have a basis for opening ourselves up to believing as well. The other part of this process is we look at our own lives. If we can find instances where something occurred in our lives that could not be attributed to our own actions, then we open ourselves up to there being a Power greater than ourselves at work in our lives.

 

Once we learn how to believe we need to learn what to believe in. Step Two starts us on the path by having us state "a Power greater than ourselves." This is the finite qualification. It effectively eliminates all human beings. This is facilitated in Step One by our disqualifying ourselves from being the equal of our Higher Power because of our inability to control the people, places and things that affect our lives. Once we apply this standard we set for ourselves to others, they also become disqualified. The second part of Step Two states "could restore us to sanity." The idea that a Power greater than ourselves that can restore us to sanity says a lot about that Power beyond just the sheer power to heal. It leads to the conclusion that that Power must be loving and caring in order to want us healed. We can then conclude that the willingness of this Higher Power to heal us also shows this Power to be forgiving. There is an underlying theme of surrender to that which can heal us in Step Two that makes the concept of a bridge of hope important. In this step we build on the honesty learned and applied in Step One. We do this by acknowledging that our believing that we have the power to control the outcome of our actions or the ability to change the people, places and things that touch our lives is the definition of insanity. Only by embracing the hope given us by our coming to believe can we cross that bridge to the sanity Step Three provides.

 

STEP TWO   to download or print click here  To download or print click the PDF icon

 

"We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"

 

1. Has there ever been times, where in spite of your best thinking, feelings and actions that the consequences weren’t near or as severe as they could of or should have been?

2. What does “came to” mean (don’t be afraid to use the dictionary)?

3. What does “believe” mean (don’t be afraid to use the dictionary)?

4. What does “a power greater than ourselves” mean to you?

5. What have you “come to believe” about “a power greater than ourselves”? Try to include in your answer the following:

        A. Are there limits to it’s power? If so, what are they?

        B. Does this power use it’s power for your benefit? If so, how and why?

        C. Does this power communicate with you? If so, how and why?

        D. Can you communicate with this power? If so, how and why?

        E. What have you “come to believe” regarding the attributes and manifestations of this power? How do these and should these manifest in your life?

        F. What have you “come to believe” regarding the attributes and manifestations of this power when the situation involves more than just yourself?

6. What does “restore” mean (don’t be afraid to use the dictionary)?

7. What does “sanity” mean (don’t be afraid to use the dictionary)? Try to include in your answer the items you listed in Step 1.

8. Why does the word “could” appear in the wording for this Step?

9. Consider the following 4 questions and answers:

1st. Question: What if there is no God and you do not believe? Answer: There is nothing, you have nothing and you lose nothing.

2nd. Question: What if there isn’t a God, and you do believe? Answer: Your perceptions are your reality. At least you will get some comfort in believing in something.

3rd. Question: What if there is a God and you do believe? Answer: You win. Your belief has a foundation.

4th. Question: What if there is a God and you do not believe? Answer: You’re up the creek without a paddle!