CALL IT WHAT YOU MAY -
"We can call it
the group, the pro-
gram, or we can call it
God. The only suggested
guidelines are that this
Power be loving, caring
and greater than our-
selves." (The Basic
Text, p. 24)
THE WILLINGNESS TO BELIEVE IN A POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES -
" ' IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF BEING WILLING TO BELIEVE IN A POWER GREATER THAN MYSELF. NOTHING MORE WAS REQUIRED OF ME TO MAKE MY BEGINNING.' ... Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view." (The Big Book, p. 12)
"From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things: the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals, and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred and were brought together by the same Great Mystery."
- Lakota Chief Luther Standing Bear (1868 - 1939)
HP - Higher Power - is any power greater than oneself, like Nature, the Cosmos, or even the legal system.