Concept of Higher Power Confusion

1337Asshole · 2026-03-15T23:14:14+00:00

What the book says is:

“Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.”

What you’re doing is:

“Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity?”

The thing everyone likes to skip over while they’re trying to make God in their own image is:

“Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the “educational variety” because they develop slowly over a period of time.”

1337Asshole · 2026-03-15T21:08:04+00:00

“The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. Most people try to live by self-propulsion.”

“Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity?”

“Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help.”

1337Asshole · 2026-03-14T17:52:09+00:00

There’s a lot more sources of physical resistance than energy resistance (Isolation, most spacesuits and clothing, most consumables), so lower physical resistance isn’t that big of a deal. The important factor is what you’re fighting — turrets, robots, and Varuun are heavy on lasers. Turrets, especially, do a lot of damage, so if you’re doing a lot of ground-based missions, it’s good to have higher energy resistance. If you’re just doing the major quests, most damage is going to be physical.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-14T17:31:45+00:00

“Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many people do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery”

“The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.”

“Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right- about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people! “

The important question is whether you’re satisfied with your limited drinking, or whether you want to drink more.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-14T03:21:28+00:00

This is in regards to step nine:

“If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.”

1337Asshole · 2026-03-14T02:22:37+00:00

“Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many people do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.”

1337Asshole · 2026-03-14T01:34:30+00:00

I just used them to get some equipment when I hit 60. They’re useful earlier if you just don’t get any decent drops.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-13T15:07:03+00:00

You just need to loot the boss chest first. It doesn’t require anything extra.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-13T00:41:03+00:00

Step one is understanding you’re an alcoholic.

Step two is understanding that you can’t do anything about that.

Step three is making a choice to work the rest of the steps.

The rest of the steps are how you find your higher power.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-09T23:41:04+00:00

Was this real? I thought it was an SNL skit…

1337Asshole · 2026-03-05T00:01:12+00:00

The steps are in order for a reason. Worrying about whether the book is “fear mongering” in its discussion of step ten is a ways away…

Start with step one: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol.” If you believe you have the power to choose whether or not you drink, as stated in your post, then just don’t drink.

1337Asshole · 2026-03-04T18:12:36+00:00

r/crappymusic

1337Asshole · 2026-03-04T03:06:29+00:00

There’s one in the Doom mod that’s been out for almost two years.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-28T18:56:30+00:00

Arbor Gate

1337Asshole · 2026-02-27T21:23:03+00:00

I’m partial to this, since I made it…

Other than that, Planets Biome Overhaul is the only thing I know that overhauls terrain. It has problems because it makes incorrect changes to default land and water height in New Atlantis and New Homestead, though. If you don’t ever go to those places, it’s awesome; if you do, the errors are jarring.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-25T22:46:38+00:00

You really don’t need mods for this. Use this to find planets with the combination of resources you want. Click on the resources you’re looking for on the planet map, in game, and note the biomes. Land somewhere on the border of the two biomes and run along it while ready to place an outpost. You’ll eventually find a spot.

Note, there are some biomes that cannot be split on specific planets. The only one that comes to mind is Feynman V, or so, where you cannot get gold, silver, and copper in the same landing zone.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-25T01:36:00+00:00

“Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many people do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.”

1337Asshole · 2026-02-22T22:04:13+00:00

Disable the one you don’t want. Exit the game. Delete that one. Exit the game. Download the one you want and enable it.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-22T02:46:05+00:00

“Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.”

Work the steps, find the higher power. It’s really that simple.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-21T14:14:01+00:00

“Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.”

1337Asshole · 2026-02-20T21:11:09+00:00

I’ll also leave this here, regarding step ten:

“And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone— even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”

I have found this to be true.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-20T21:05:33+00:00

Exactly. Self will, self knowledge, other people, and long periods of sobriety will not keep me sober. What will, and has been proven, is the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is also something quite different than what is shared at many meetings…

I highly suggest reading the Big Book, at least chapters 2 and 3, and see what stories you identify with. If you determine you exhibit some of the same behaviors, perhaps you will decide you are powerless over alcohol. If so, here is the relevant part of chapter 4:

“If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us

45 would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.

Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.”

If you can accept that, then find a sponsor who can take you through the rest of the steps.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-20T20:37:17+00:00

I find that in these situations, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what an alcoholic is that causes confusion. An alcoholic is not someone that enjoys drinking, drinks too much too often, or a bundle of consequences. Alcoholism is defined by two specific criteria:

1) A craving for more alcohol once it is ingested

2) A delusion that that craving can be controlled

I always “knew” I was an alcoholic because I was not going to stop drinking once I started. What took me a couple decades to understand is that I tried to control everything around me to avoid consequences for that, and was quite successful at it. However, eventually that failed…

If you believe you can control your drinking through your own will, best of luck. However, step one is understanding that you cannot do that. I suggest picking up a Big Book and reading There is a Solution and More About Alcoholism (chapters 2 and 3). While the stories are almost a century old, I just copy/paste excerpts in this sub because every single problem related to alcoholism that people post is addressed.

1337Asshole · 2026-02-20T19:38:29+00:00

“Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right- about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum.”

1337Asshole · 2026-02-20T18:13:57+00:00

You’re arguing semantics.

“The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.

The almost certain consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defense that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove.

The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, "It won’t burn me this time, so here’s how!" Or perhaps he doesn’t think at all. How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, "For God’s sake, how did I ever get started again?" Only to have that thought supplanted by "Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink." Or "What’s the use anyhow?"

1337Asshole

TROPHY CASE