We can see the Power in other ways. In the grip of his habit the addict experiences himself as no more than a puny ego that must scratch and grasp and scrounge for every miserable scrap of satisfaction. Honoring the greater power could simply come in the form of finally recognizing the impotence of that small ego, the utter incapacity of its ways to keep a person safe or calm or happy. “I don’t believe in God,” a Narcotics Anonymous member told me, “but at least with step two I’ve accepted that I’m not Her.”
