In Training

“For our group purpose there is but one authority – a loving God as He may express himself in our group conscience.  Our leaders are but trusted servants – they do not govern.”

I know the Traditions don’t get as much attention as they should, but more than any other tool in Al-Anon, Tradition Two is one of the most effective examples that leads me to something I can understand as a higher power.  I have never been someone who believes in god as a separate being, looking down from on high and puppeteering the universe with his (or her) omnipotence.  Fortunately, this program doesn’t require that kind of leap from me, which was so wise on the part of our founders.  My concept of god can be completely different from your concept of god and yet, still, there is enough common ground on which we can build our own respective programs.

As an Al-anon group, we are comprised of a variety of personalities, each coming to the rooms with our own individual story.  In any other environment, many of us would likely never cross paths or become friends.  And yet I look around at all the wonderful relationships developed in program and wonder, how does it happen so effortlessly here?

It’s partly because in this little microcosm of life, we train ourselves to operate differently.  Each of us brings our own unique perspective to the table, but program teaches us that none is more right, or more true, than the other.  We learn to listen instead of advise.  We are each allowed to be exactly where we are that day in our own recovery.   Sometimes there are good days and sometimes there are bad.  Some days slippage, and some days incredible progress.  We practice mutual respect for each other and over time, it allows for these unique relationships to develop in a way they could not, were we competing for leadership of the group like we do out in the “real world”, where judgment and measurement are allowed to run rampant.  Imagine if these same rules applied everywhere?

In program, the competitive and self-serving tendencies in each of us is kept in check, and that which is compassionate and loving is given room to show up and participate.  It allows us to expose our deepest vulnerabilities to each other with trust.  For me, this is the true expression of a higher power.   When that which is common among us is valued over that which isolates us with our egos.  When our compassion for another leads us to accept someone in trouble and reach out with love, instead of judge and take advantage of them to further own agendas. 

If that isn’t God, I don’t know what is.  I’ve learned that although I still can’t imagine God as a being whose arms will ever wrap around me, I know I witness it’s power in these rooms on a regular basis.  And given enough time to absorb how it works in program, I am hopeful that I will learn how to cultivate it in the rest of my life as well.

Photo credit: www.iStockphoto.com/10-26-07 © Franck Boston