[madisgram]

i know many ppl in early recovery, me included at one time, struggled with the god concept. found this article and felt it may help those struggling with step 3 or help others understanding how to not let it get in the way of attending AA because of a lack of "belief". this is NOT a religious topic. please refrain from that. but focus on what the article contains to explain how to better understand a "higher power"/spirituality concept.
in my experience learning about spirituality and utilizing it in my life has granted me much peace.

Reliance on a Higher Power
AA understands that the alcoholic must have a connection to a Higher Power, however loosely defined, which alone is powerful enough to fill the void that was previously flooded with alcohol. Meetings usually begin with the brief “Serenity Prayer.”
Columnist David Brooks of the New York Times (June 28, 2010) quotes the self-reported experience of Bill W, not previously a believer, as he experienced a white light that he perceived as the presence of God. As this occurred in his hospital room at a New York detox center on his fourth day of treatment: “It seemed to me, in the mind’s eye, that I was on a mountain and a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man.” Bill W never drank again after that spiritual experience of December 14, 1934.
Not everyone in AA is equally spiritual, and only some report an intense spiritual experience like that of Bill W. Yet there is a great deal of spirituality among AA members. Some come into AA with a strong spiritual history that is still vital and active in their daily lives. Others come in no longer spiritual or religious, but having been so earlier in life. There are those who have never been spiritually or religiously engaged in the past, but their involvement with AA brings them to spirituality as they are affirmed and seek to acculturate to this healing community.
This spirituality achieves several important things. First, such a Higher Power functions to create an absolute quality to abstinence, which becomes more than a mere human contrivance or a matter of “relative” value. Abstinence is therefore non-negotiable. Second, reliance on a Higher Power takes the place of alcohol in filling the emptiness within. This theme of spiritual emptiness or incompleteness and the misplaced efforts to find fulfillment through things other than spirituality can be found in the writings of western spirituality from the 4th century. Third, this spirituality frees the self to concentrate on contrition and service. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...lps-the-helper

Spirituality defined is

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.”[2] Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; spiritual experience includes that of connectedness with a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm.[3] Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life.[4] It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality

sorry for the long post!!!