Customer Reviews

A Skeptic's Guide to the 12 Steps

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For years I've been struggling with the AA 12 step program and the way it treats Agnositicism. Here at last is a book that offers even-handed help for Agnostics, Atheists, and Religious sufferers, all in the context of Spirituality. Well worth the read for those who believe that the spiritual experience can occur without religion.

This book is the one essential book I recommend to anyone starting a twelve step program. It helps anyone with doubts walk through the steps in an intelligent yet very personal way. By telling his story, the author illustrates the frustrations many of us have when confronted with the steps and then shows us, through research and much difficult soul-searching, how he was able to understand and apply the steps to his life.

I couldn't have done it without this book and its discussion of a "higher power" other than the traditional god. It really helps for those of us who think too much.

This book is not about a superficial glossing over of the 12 Steps. The author takes us on his very personal journey through the steps, and he takes us there on a deeper level than any other book I have read on this subject.

He effectively uses his background as a trained and experienced psychotherapist, but he does not take us through a head journey. He bares his soul, and he shows us the depths to which these ordinary 12 Steps can take us on our own life-changing spiritual experience. He pulls no punches, sugar coats nothing.

I'm not certain that those giving this book a low rating actually read the same book I did, or perhaps they didn't read the entire book. If you read only the first chapter or two, perhaps you would get the impression that this book is nothing more than the same old same old formulaic "this is how I was, this is what happened, and this is what it is like now" 12 step story. But that is far from the whole truth that this book conveys.

Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7, corresponding to Steps 4, 5, 6, and 7, are worth far more than the price of the book alone!

Perhaps this book speaks to me because I have a similar background and training; perhaps because I, too, have been quite the skeptic; and perhaps again because I, too, have struggled so much with "traditional" ideas of faith and spirituality. I believe, however, that this book has a wide appeal. But even more importantly, it has a "depth" appeal! After just the first reading of this book, I feel I have been invited to live in the deepest depths of wisdom and spiritual experience, to get out of my head only, to leave behind the superficialities that are so common to 12 Step books and meetings, and to plunge into the deeper depths and higher heights of real Step work, a.k.a. real life.

I have dog-eared nearly every other page of this book in the first reading. I plan on reading through this book again often, and soon it will be so marked up as to be almost unreadable. It is also a book I plan on buying and giving to others.

If you are, or know someone who is, struggling with the 12 Steps, skeptical of their real usefulness, and/or perhaps with a background steeped in psychospirituality, this is most definitely the book to read! I highly recommend it to anyone who needs the 12 Step program for oneself and who is a well-educated, trained professional in the arena of helping others, including psychotherapists, counselors, physicians, clergy, professors, attorneys, even spiritual directors. But it is also not just for those more highly educated people. I will caution that those with less educational background may find it too challenging for them, only in terms of not having the educational background to fully understand or appreciate much of what the author shares.

You don't need to struggle with concepts that are just too simplistic to be of help. You no longer need to feel as if you have to check in your education or intellect at the 12 Step meeting door. Let this book show you that there is a DEEPER way to live the 12 Steps, without having to settle for superficiality, over-simplicity, or having to live with a "dumbed-down" version of spiritual experience.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I feel that I can FINALLY fully glean the wisdom of life within the guidelines of the 12 Steps, without having to compromise my education, spiritual leanings, or intellectual curiosity!

Thank you, Phillip Z.! You have done us a great service! 10 years after being written, this book is EXACTLY what the doctor ordered! I am so grateful it is still available. I wish it were easily available at libraries.

This book has helped me unlock a river flowing deep within, in a way no other book has ever done.

people with addictions (Alcohol, food, etc) come into treatment with just one wish: to stop indulging in their compulsion. Generally they do not see that the addictive behavior is just a symptom of a more complex problem. Adding to the difficulty of finding a solution is the 12 step program's often misunderstood concept of God as a Higher Power that can grant abstinence. This book presents the 12 step program in a way that explains the spiritual and psychological components of the disease of addiction and opens the reader's mind to be receptive of the 12 steps as a plan of treatment. After years in the program, always having trouble with the thought of a God above that either grants or denies our prayers, this book gives me the a way to have a higher power in my life that I can accept. I can't say enough about the book. It has brought all the things I have read over the years together and tied it in a nice neat package that reflects what I have come to believe but couldn't articulate. I think everyone should read this book - whether you're involved in a 12 step program or not.

The book was a bit too "warm fuzzy" for me (with its heavy emphasis on the spiritual v. the cognitive); so I give it a 3-stars. Those of us who have not experienced an anthropomorphic God (i.e., one who intervenes in human affairs) have an uphill battle with the religionists. And those of us who experience "spirit" as a biochemical function of the brain, have had better success with a cognitive-behavioral approach to recovery. For 18-years, my Higher Power was my Home Group and the Big Book.
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As an alternative, the following is a non-theistic summary of the 12-Step Program:
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The Principles of the 12-Steps:
1. Honesty
2. Hope
3. Faith
4. Courage
5. Integrity
6. Willingness
7. Humility
8. Empathy
9. Justice
10. Perseverance
11. Spirituality
12. Service
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Three Cardinal Rules of Sobriety:
1. Stay Sober NO MATTER WHAT !!
2. Change the Brain from Stinking Thinking !!
.....(using cognitive therapy if necessary)
3. Help Others Stay Sober !!
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How to Work a 12-Step Program:
1. For the 1st 90-days, Be Quiet (except to ask questions).
2. For the 1st year, LISTEN and LEARN.
3. From Day-1, PRACTICE What You Learn.
4. Teach Others the Program (when you sponsor someone).
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In the mean time, I will keep researching other books to find a more complete, cognitive approach to the 12-Step Program. This best workbook using the cognitive approach (CBT) to recovery that I have read so far is "The Tao of Sobriety: Helping You to Recover from Alcohol and Drug Addiction." This little book is outstanding, and easy to comprehend.

I was "skeptical" of this book...but ended up impressed. It is getting me through the toughest parts of OA recovery and I know I will reference it over and again. If you have difficulty with the seemingly religious context of 12 step programs, this book will really help see it in a new way that can fit for everyone. Next step is to see if the author has any other books published!

Excellent information has helped me tremendously to understand OA and helped me move forward into OA

Phillip does an amazing job of addressing the universal theme of addiction through and unconventional addiction (overeating). I absolutely treasure and concur with his assessments of the ways to work the twelve steps accepting the higher power within you. I had really been struggling with this reconciliation. Phillip says it very powerfully. I particularly liked his take in step 10 (one of my most used). Great book I would recommend it to anyone in recovery struggling with the issue of their belief in god or lack thereof.

ML

Well written and thoughtful, this book serves as a guide for those who struggle with the spirituality behind 12 step programs. Useful for all addictions. Written in chapters that reflect the 12 steps through the eyes of an agnostic who found healing and freedom through OA.