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Here we encounter a remarkable group of AAs who are in the midst of What Carl Jung describes as “the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness.” The search may lead to a sudden, dramatic spiritual awakening—“an illumination of enormous impact and dimension,” Bill W. writes—though for many the quest is long and the awakening gradual. One writer describes experiencing “a spiritual change without noticing it”; another a slow progression from self-loathing to “cleansing tears” of gratitude.

For some, the search begins with a simple maybe, a willingness to act as if, while for others it resides in AA meetings, in “the gift of the art of listening.” Whether the Fellowship is seen as “the eye of the hurricane” or a new home where “shared darkness has become a shared light,” here in AA we are able to accomplish together what we can’t do on our own.

Along the way come the questions. What is a Higher Power? Where do I look for one? Who or what is God, if there is a God? As is the case with so much in AA, the answers vary with our experiences, and so concepts of a Higher Power range from “an infinity of kindness” to the Spirit of Love, from the “still, small voice” inside to a sensitivity for the Universal, from a Deeper Power to “God, the verb.”

An awakening of the spirit defies definition and requires faith, says one writer, though sometimes the intense pursuit of it can of itself be the root of our troubles, says another. But probably all of us will agree with that one AA who observes that however we look at it, a spiritual awakening “flowers from the cultivating of all of AA’s Twelve Steps.”