• Kornblumenratte@feddit.org
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    4 days ago

    If you want to detach step 11 from it’s Christian roots, you cannot just substitute “God” in its wording. That yields nonsense, as you are stating correctly.

    The aim of Step 11 is “knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” In non–religious terms I would call this aim “committment”.

    The means of Step 11 to achieve commitment is spirituality, spirituality being a set of basic convictions that provides meaning, purpose and a sense of belonging.

    A “neutral” Meta—Step 11 might be worded something like:

    “We consciously develop a healthy spiritual basis for our live, gaining motivation and comittment through it.”

    As any religion, philosophy, ideology or other system of basic convictions can provide this spiritual basis for an individual, the formulation of a more concrete and helpful Step 11 will differ between e.g. communists, buddhists, naturists and epicureans.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 days ago

      You’re basically saying the 12 steps only work for atheists if they aren’t the actual 12 steps. You do realize that, right?

      • Kornblumenratte@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        Depends on your definition of “actual”.

        I totally agree that the original 12 steps cannot work for anyone not believing in an Abrahamitic god.

        I’d say that you need the actual steps for other people, i.e. the steps the AA are really taking, not the steps they claim to take.