(March 18, 2014 at 4:10 pm)NoraBrimstone Wrote: I tried an ACA Twelve Step Program, got the book and workbook and everything. I gave up on it mainly because of the "higher power" bullcrap. I tried to just make it mean something else to me, like "the universe" or something metaphorical... but then I came to realise that the whole point in the "higher power" aspect of such programs is to put the responsibility of any failure on this "higher power" and avoid actually dealing with the problems at hand, and also admit you can never have any control over anything in your life, which is bullcrap. Bloody useless for anything.
I think you missed the point of a 'higher power' completely.
It's not to shuck responsibility for failure, it's to understand that oneself is not the center of the universe. All responsibility resides in the individual.
I went into AA an atheist and remain one to this day. I haven't attended an AA meeting in years. However, the support of others who understand is not to be ignored or underestimated.
I am most certainly not saying 12-Step programs are the only, or even the best, way to get control of one's life, but they aren't useless.
Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
