I am a sober alcoholic (50 years) and an active member of AA. There is a lot of talk in AA literature and meetings about God or Higher power or Power greater than yourself. Mine is Nature and it is worshiped by scientific observation and experimentation. No superstition or bogus subjugation needed.

If an analyst ever asked me that question, I would feel compelled to ask, in return, " Explain exazctly what you mean by that question? And, what is your purpose in asking the question?"

I just look at "higher power" as...well, something greater than myself. Which is most everything. Gravity, like people like to say, and obviously our world and physics in general and all the universe outside of it...Many insects' strength is proportionally greater than your's. Etc etc etc...just try to get past the feeling of subjugation. You've already gotten what you need from it - you said it yourself, it's humbling and freeing and you appreciate life now. That's the whole point.

Just don't plea. Maybe what they want is for you to submit to something or someone else to have a little control over you. Don't let this happen. Find your facts and make up your own mind. Gravity is a higher power and we accept it, and it controls us. There is no option. But over your personal life, you have control - don't give it up because someone else says that you 'need' to.
An oak branch might be higher than you, but that doesn't make it smarter. lol

Your not insignificant at the side of the Universe. You are alive and intelligent and can bare witness to the Universes existence , it's like the saying about a tree falling in the woods and would it make a sound if no ears where there to hear it....You are Human and magnificent..

With the exclusion of everyone in this group (because we are all free thinkers), humanity in general seems to have some bizarre need for subjugation. We have it at the community and civic level, We have leaders at the city, county, state and federal level. All of whom are placed in charge to make decisions and tell us what to do or not do. Some will say that it's not so much a need for subjugation as it is a need for others to wield power. Both are probably equally true. Millions of people could rise against the hierarchy if they wished to but, they don't. They allow it. They choose these people to rule them. I think it may be a need to abdicate responsibility to someone else. No one likes to take responsibility for their own actions so, it's much easier to blame someone else for their miserable lives.

Personally, I feel if there is a higher power. It is us rather than me. It is the collective consciousness and collective actions of all of us as a whole rather than me as a individual. Together, we have the power to do anything to change anything we wish to change. But, too many of us can't see past ourselves. Too many people can't see beyond ten minutes into the future. So, we wallow in the society that we've constructed because it's "not that bad".

Just don't plea. Subjugating is up to you. Gravity is a higher power and we just accept it as being factual and there/here. I think what you mean is they are maybe suggesting is that the higher power you should subject yourself to is a personal sort of power that would have control over you. I would reject that immediately and find my own way with someone else who is not trying to control you.

There are many potential pitfalls in the course of trying to perform as a human. One is under-confidence. Another is over-confidence. A close and detailed look at objective reality can help us maintain balance. Two unassailable truths are:

1. We are no less valuable to the universe than any other creature.
2. We can’t boss the universe around.

Confidence and humility are not mutually exclusive concepts. There are higher powers as well as lower powers; it’s just a fact. Aligning with factual reality is a corrective for many ills.

That term is straight out of the Oxford Group, Christian organization whose ideas and even some terminology was directly borrowed by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith as they launched Alcoholics Anonymous. It is NOT a core part of cognitive or cognitive-behavioral therapy theory as recognized by professional organizations for psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. It IS central in the 12-steps model of self-help and peer support. If you had a therapist feeding you this, I suspect it was their own bias or a religiously affiliated treatment organization.

I worked for 10 years in a medical and cognitive behavioral addiction treatment program that also required its participants to attend daily 12-step meetings as a condition of treatment (such is the monopoly AA seems to have on society's understanding of addiction recovery). I found myself frequently having to "reinterpret" those steps for patients who understandably found that concept unhelpful. AA participation has absolutely been experienced as helpful in varying degrees by many people who have participated (--and not so much by others). But that is despite, not because of, the inclusion of the higher power concept, in my not-so-humble opinion. What I would say to people looking to honestly work the steps constructively is that the positive point of the first 3 steps is really to help people realize that there are absolutely things in their life that are not under their own control and that a healthy and fulfilling life does not require that they control the uncontrollable. They only need to learn to do the best they can with what they've got to work with. The Serenity prayer basic concept really is fundamental to the whole basis of stress management in life, but putting everything into terms that strongly imply a deity is unnecessary at best and counterproductive at worst.

I want to add, I DO find things about AA potentially very helpful; just not the religious-y parts. It IS helpful to connect with others going through similar struggles. It IS very helpful to get out of your own head by listening to others share their stories, and it IS helpful to learn to open up and talk about your own insecurities and struggles, rather than shroud it in secrecy, which only intensifies a sense of shame. It is also very important in addiction recovery to practice accountability, and AA is a readily available community resource for doing that--though not the only way. For people who are already religious, it seems to be a great option for many. For those who aren't, it forces some mental contortionism. There was a study I saw several years ago showing, naturally, that non-religious people were far more likely to drop out of AA. For those who stayed and worked it, rates of sustained abstinence from using were equal to those of religious participants. But how unfair and counterproductive to put countless people into that compromising position. There are alternatives, but only if you can find them. Here and there exist some agnostic AA groups, which very in tone but generally seem to do a good job of weeding out the religious superfluous stuff. There's also Smart Recovery, which offers community support and connects people with current research findings to help in their personal recovery efforts. It's a shame they never seem to get any public recognition.

I’m sure it’s a religious thing. Why else would they ask that question.

I grew up catholic and I was taught that god loves you no matter what.....so no matter how bad or alone you feel, you are never really alone. As a child, that notion brought comfort to me. As an adult, I find relying on and being responsible for myself is all I need (no deity required). Humans are great at rationalization.

I have participated in programs with a similar requirement which, up front, look pretty darned religious. The fact that I had success in such programs despite my personal disbelief proves that religiosity is not necessarily a requirement for success. In fact, I think that regularly circling up with similar folks and keeping the topic front and center was as key to my making it as anything.

That said, MY nonbelieving take on "higher power" was to accept that success WAS possible, despite what my experience had been up to that point. My hope for a personal win, after witnessing its possibility in others, was MY higher power. Not some door knob or random deity.

I could never grasp the concept of higher power in 3 12-step programs no matter how hard I tried.

I agree I to am humbled by the vastness of the universe but a "higher power" reminds of slavery. To work in hopes of pleasing some one who believes they are your better does not sound right at all. Everything I do is in service to making my life better and those closet to me. I know it sounds a little selfish but I don't care .... it's probably one of the many reasons why I'm an atheist that and I can think and ask questions.

I cannot explain why we are encouraged to believe in any kind of "higher power".
Perhaps it's to propagate the notion that, individually, we are not enough on our own.
Although, in all actuality, I think it might be
precisely what you suggested: a plea for subjugation.
Something which I want absolutely no part of.
As far as I'm concerned, I AM "enough".