I had the thought today that it would be a worthwhile exercise, each month, to write on the Overeaters Anonymous step, tradition and concept of the month. As today is the last day of February, I’ve done what I do best: Set a ridiculous deadline for myself. As the deadline is fixed, I will sacrifice the writing a bit. After all, I get to do this again in 2011.

Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.

The first thing I had to do with Step 2, is personalize it. From ourselves and us to myself and me. While I certainly hope that a Power greater than you can restore you to sanity, I’m here for me, buddy. If I’m not restored, what good can I be to anybody else? As you might imagine, this was a very hard step for an atheist to take. In fact, I was trying to get started on Step 4 when a sponsor reviewed where I was in my recovery and suggested I just wasn’t ready for Step 4. Though I claimed to have taken Step 2, because I had answered a bunch of questions and written about what I was told to write about, that didn’t mean I had really taken the step. It didn’t mean I had been convinced that HP could restore me to sanity. I wasn’t really convinced I was insane. Powerless over food, yes. That I got early. The relationship between insanity and an unmanageable life was harder for me to get.

So I was demoted, with love, to Step 2. To help me convince me I was insane, at least when in the food, and that a Power greater than the all powerful “I” could restore me to sanity*, I picked up a copy of “Came to Believe”, the AA publication with stories of AAs finding the power I was looking for. Some of these stories I found to be recruiting posters for religion and those I couldn’t relate to. Others had nuggets of gold I could pick-up and put in my recovery backpack. I wrote on one story per day. Sometimes I wrote a little, sometimes more. At the end of the process I had a firm enough concept of an HP and a clear enough idea of my own brand of insanity, that I could honestly say I had a Power greater than myself that could restore me to sanity. That concept has changed since then. Not a lot. Refined. Strengthened. Not new, but improved. And I’m still an atheist.

*Why do we assume we ever were sane?

Tradition 2 – For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

Who first said that the Steps keep us from committing suicide and the traditions keep us from committing homicide? Never more true than when I think about our second tradition. Our second tradition is the perfect mate for my concept of a Higher Power. I don’t believe in a deity. I don’t believe in an external creator. My creators, sadly, are dead and buried. I miss them. I’ve made my amends, but that’s another topic.  I’ve been around enough and participated in enough group consciences to know that God, as he expresses himself in our group conscience is the best we can do, and it’s not bad. It’s not always what my HP wants which is more evidence that we all bring God as we understand God with us into every OA meeting. As different as our understandings of God may be, I know for sure that we’re hearing different things when God informs our decisions! The God of my understanding has taught me and helped me laugh off some OA decisions.

From the group level to the World Service Business Conference (WSBC), I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to contribute to our OA group conscience. I’ve heard what I thought was fear. I’ve heard what I thought was anger. I’ve heard what I thought was uncertainty. But, what I think motivates another OA is none of my business. If I can use what I think I’m learning about another OAs feelings to help explain my point of view, I use it but I don’t accuse them of that feeling. I don’t poke them with that stick. I try not to poke myself either.

A big part of this tradition is trust and acceptance. People who were with me at my first WSBC thought I was going to implode over some of the issues. They seemed like matters of life and death. They weren’t. By my 4th WSBC I could participate sanely. I could take the business of the fellowship seriously without taking it personally. That made a huge difference to my total recovery experience and it’s an attitude I can bring to all aspects of my life. Restored to sanity? Well, getting closer, one day at a time.

Concept 2 – The OA groups have delegated to World Service Business Conference the active maintenance of our world services; thus, World Service Business Conference is the voice, authority and effective conscience of OA as a whole. The OA groups have delegated to World Service Business Conference the active maintenance of our world services; thus, World Service Business Conference is the voice,authority and effective conscience of OA as a whole.

I’ve never been to a sausage factory, but I have been to our World Service Business Conference and I’ve seen the slicing and dicing, compromise, concession and surrender required to do OA business for the fellowship as a whole. It works. It’s not pretty. It’s not fast, but it works. Near the end of his life, Dr. Bob wrote to Bill W., “Remember, Bill, let’s not louse this thing up. Let’s keep it simple.” WSBC is about as simple as you can make a process that involves 150-200 people in one room trying to come to consensus. That well defined process, based on parliamentary procedures, helps assure we don’t louse things up. Business is conducted, slowly. Revising literature or introducing something new often takes year. If you believe, as I do, that OA is fundamentally not broken, there is no rush. Mostly, we have opportunities, not emergencies. That’s what I learned in my 4 years at WSBC.

The people in the room, doing OA business mostly represent OA intergroups (it’s more complex than that but hey, if you care that much, read the OA Bylaws, Part B.

At the moment, all representatives need to be present in the same meeting room to participate in the OA group conscience. As you’d imagine, lots of intergroups don’t have their voice in the room.  Modern technology may, one day, widen participation to intergroups without the means or desire to sit somebody on an airplane and fly them to Albuquerque.  I know that makes some people nervous. Me too, but just a little. When, if, the OA group conscience decides to take that step, we’ll be ready.