An acquaintance has sponsored alcoholics on their journey from addiction to sobriety for more than thirty years. She claims the second of the twelve steps is the most difficult for those who have already admitted they are powerless over alcohol. Step two says: “Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.” This can be a formidable barrier to anyone who is unable or unwilling to accept a concept of God, spirit, or the supernatural. Similarly, step three—“Turn our will and our life over to the care of God as we understand Him”—presents a huge hurdle for those who have had bad experiences with religion.
Yet, the alcoholic is desperate to be saved from a ruined life, and the sponsor is promising a lifeline. Complete belief in God isn’t necessary, she claims. One can start with a what-if-this-is-true attitude. For “coming to believe” can certainly be couched as tentative belief in a higher power. Tentative, that is, until experience indicates the truth of the hypothesis. Alcoholics have the example of their sponsor and others who were saved by the steps. So, with precious little faith to start, they begin their journey back.
Most people feel free of such desperation, i.e., depending on a power greater than themselves for redemption and salvation. In this sense, addicts in recovery have an advantage in life because the higher power gives them access to the miraculous. Miracles occur in moments when spiritual forces create an unusual intersection of events within the visible world. Most people—needing rationality—would explain the concurrence of evidently miraculous events as mere coincidence. They’re unwilling to consider the possibility of a spiritual world to which everyone has immediate access.
“Spiritual power resides within every human being. The primary means of access are prayer and meditation, which are shunned in our culture.”
Spiritual power resides within every human being. The primary means of access are prayer and meditation, which are shunned in our culture in favor of the illusory life of work, family, and whatever else we engage in daily. There isn’t room for the miraculous in a world where rationality reigns supreme. But suppose spiritual power resides within us, how can we put it to work? I’ve suggested elsewhere that during meditation, for instance, foregoing the pleasure of a recounted story in favor of the boring repetition of a mantra can release an even more interesting idea than could have been anticipated.
Do you see where faith is needed to tear oneself away from pleasurable rumination, hoping for something of even greater value? The same sort of faith in the higher power is necessary to live according to one’s highest values, commitments, and aspirations. But out of those behaviors the stuff of miracles is born. For in the spiritual world, good behavior is always rewarded with good results. Of course, it’s not quite that simple. For there can be no expectation of reward. And that’s the Zen of faith.
Never fear. There is always something to gain from a life dedicated to the love of God, neighbor, and self. In that life, we become the constant instruments of inner spiritual power, which is the origin of everything that’s good in life, including miracles.