Acceptance Of A Higher Power

What is your concept of God or a higher power?

I think that some of the answers here reflect a misunderstanding.   The question doesn't ask whether you believe in a higher power or God:   it asks what the reader thinks the terms "higher power" or "God" refers to.   Even a person who doesn't believe in a "higher power" has some notion of what a higher power is, just as someone who disbelieves in unicorns can still explain what a unicorn is.Since there are many beliefs about gods, among believers and non-believers alike, I think that the OP has posed an interesting survey question.   For my own part, I understand the term "God" in a traditional way.   God is a being who is omnipotent, omniscient, incorporeal, and omnipresent yet distinct from his/her/its creation, namely the rest of reality.   This being is also supposed to be personal, i.e. acting in a manner that can be explained and predicted through the use of mentalistic concepts like thoughts, perceptions, and desires.   God is usually supposed to be ultimately loving and benevolent, though deists believe in an indifferent god.    I have yet to learn of any good evidence for this being's existence, or hear of any sound argument for the theoretical necessity of positing this being's existence.    Neither have I seen fit to make this being one of my objects of faith.    So I remain an agnostic with a non-theistic bias.     But when I do get involved in discussions about God, whether with non-believers or believers, I cleave to my traditional understanding of what the term "God" means because, problematic as it may be, it is less problematic than equating "God" with "everything" or "the ground of being" or with some other concept that is even more vague.

Do you have faith in God and a higher power?

Do you have faith in God and a higher power?  Everyone knows they do…but does that provide value or is something you have to say. That is why; we have atheist and theist in Quora fighting over it everyday.  In my case, God is my top guy in Cosmic Work that we have over 15,000 for planet Earth. The catch is, we are in physical form AND do not know about those projects. We do our thing. I am one of them as a regular worker. You could be one two.  So, how do I know about it? Well, the Cosmos works in a hierarchical fashion and at human level, we do not know the higher intricacies. That is why in WWII, both prayed God to win. We still do not know who is right except one group did massive damage to the Jews. That means, we had an enemy that prayed God.In my case, I was supposed to help within a team to planet Earth within and after China. But that did not happen, because the enemies wanted to destroy Earth. It is the Chaos that is a part in the Universal system. Those Energy beings came after the groups for that purpose.That is where the God System (including Angels) kicked in and did some serious damage to those groups. Now, everything is OK.That is the only time, the help came, since it is impossible for humans to do anything about it. Hence I learned. But, not much. I (we) still have to do Africa, Latin America, India and part of Europe with the help of USA. I will focus on that and not about God or any higher power.If my group fails, Chaos will win. Time will tell…

What can I do when I need to rely on a higher power?

There's nothing to do but believe that whatever is bothering you will get better. Higher Power's speciality, theoretically, is arranging things which are out of our control in such a way as to be beneficial to ourselves or loved ones. Prayer and acceptance of Higher Power's ultimate directive seem to be all that we could do.

What could an atheist use as a higher power in 12 step recovery?

Imagine a higher power that resides in you, accessible only through focused meditation based on respect for self and others.Maybe sprinkle in some deep breathing as an aid to help you connect with this higher power that resides inside you at a cellular level.Once you tap into it, it propels you in an empowered, healing, compassionate direction that is profoundly supportive of recovery.If on your path, you find yourself curious about alternative ways to arrive at this place, visit 4StepSobriety.com for some ideas.

Why does Britain have a higher rank for soft power than the U.S.?

I think the list may be flawed. It doesn't even include China. Considering China bankrolls the world, this seems to be a little remiss.The UK does have disproportionate influence in some areas, Cricket is run by the MCC, a private club as is Golf, the Royal and Ancient. Britain effectively gets 4 votes at Fifa if you include the 4 home nations. No other country gets votes for regions.The UK does have influence as part of the Commonwealth, that is former countries that are favourable or at least not hostile to former British Rule, and the Queen is head of state in countries from Australia to Canada.English is the first language of things such as air traffic control. English legal standards are still pretty common, in things like contract law.The US lost its moral authority with Guantanamo, and its torture of subjects. I accept that torture of non-US citizens isn't going to lose votes in DC, but worldwide it isn't going to make friendsA lot of the Bush driven xenophobia and paranoia carries a heavy price, the pat downs at airports are a dream for any tyrannical state, having no use except to encourage paranoia and the acceptance of state intrusion, it costs the US dear in terms of tourist trade and lost revenue.Put it this way as a place to do business if you get intrusive searches everytime you visit then you will go elsewhere. America's decline is largely through choice: because it refuses to join in with the world, it is largely irrelevant. Of course it means that world institutions are lessened, but the same was true when China was excluded.I suspect the US is in terminal decline: it is following the same pattern as Britain: valuing its military over its friendships and being dragged into daft wars on ideas of pride and losing face. For things like disaster relief the UK still has a first rate response, along with Canada, the US can't even find New Orleans or New Jersey.

Why is there no scientific evidence of a higher power?

Because science is constrained to the domain of the physical universe and the concept of a higher power lies entirely outside that domain.Science takes no interest in anything that has no physical existence. It’s only interested in things that can be observed and measured, and whose behaviours and attributes can be empirically demonstrated with repeatable consistency. Nothing else qualifies as evidence that might strengthen a scientific theory.When we come across an observable phenomenon we can’t explain, shamanic types immediately call it evidence of God, and scientists say ok, here’s something we can’t explain yet. This is the essential difference between two radically different ways of dealing with reality. For scientists, there can be no evidence of God.There’s a time in the evolution of every society in which thunder and lightning are evidence of God, or a god. Long periods of time go by, centuries or even millennia, in which everyone simply accepts this, and because sacrificing animals and children seems to appease the god’s anger in a fairly dependable way, they just keep on gutting animals and children and holding up their entrails for the god to accept and calm down. He may calm down right away or take several more days, but eventually he always calms down. So the practice continues because it obviously works.If there are no skeptics to take a scientific interest in thunder and lightning, or if the shamans have the authority to kill every skeptic for heresy, that’s where civilization stops advancing.Ours didn’t. Thunder and lightning are no longer evidence of a higher power, and it’s the projection of that which leads to the conclusion that nothing in the physical universe can be. If we haven’t found a natural explanation yet, then at some point we will.

How can I learn to believe in a higher power of my choice?

I know there are anti-delusional medications; maybe you can find something that causes delusions.There is no higher power, except possibly your spouse.