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The Five Keys: 12 Step Recovery Without A God
This groundbreaking, short book by Archer Voxx is the best resource available for people who have trouble with the “god stuff” of the 12 Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Five Keys provides insight into the program that makes the religious elements transparent and allows you to work the program without a God or Higher Power.
84 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2013
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About the author
Archer Voxx
2 books3 followersAccomplished writer and recovering alcoholic and addict. Extensive background in addiction recovery from work with alcoholics, addicts, and their family members.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 12, 2022
Just another pusher of what makes the 12 steps difficult …
The author just window dresses his own “spiritual” convictions with musings to pretend he is not professing a deity is required. Just another pusher of what makes the 12 steps difficult for so many who strongly believe a deity does not intervene in their lives … his bottom line is no different than I have heard in meetings … “just have an open mind”.
The author just window dresses his own “spiritual” convictions with musings to pretend he is not professing a deity is required. Just another pusher of what makes the 12 steps difficult for so many who strongly believe a deity does not intervene in their lives … his bottom line is no different than I have heard in meetings … “just have an open mind”.
October 8, 2015
Maybe I seem like a 12-Step apologist to some. I don't blame the author's for their Abrahamic zeal in 1939 and I don't believe they excluded me - an atheist - from the conversation. They simply wrote in a language they (okay, for the most part, Bill Wilson)related to. They thought they were cool, they thought they were cutting edge. Chances are, they were. They were indie - who published their own book in 1939?
So I blame my generation for making the Steps sacred; I don't blame the authors. The Steps were an explanation of a process. The explanation - back in 1939 - was based on a supernatural view of an interventionist Yahweh. So it's the explanation and not the process that atheists get pissy about. And yes, I've done my share of counter-arguing these literalist AA zealots who don't know they're drunk on dogma. The process or the principles are universal. They are as Hindu as they are humanist, atheist as they are Anglican, Buddhist as they are Baptist. These worldviews inform explanation of the same experience. A realist see's insanity as being overcome with sanity, the theist sees an act of God.
If supporting the principles (not the word for word 1939 description) of the 12-Step makes one an apologist, then Archer Voxx is one, too. I agree that many, many people get and stay sober without the 12 Steps. But I wouldn't use that term. Just as the Steps need to be in Icelandic for some vikings to get sober, the 1939 interpretation needs to be told in "secular" to get some of us sober. Voxx does a commendable job.
So I blame my generation for making the Steps sacred; I don't blame the authors. The Steps were an explanation of a process. The explanation - back in 1939 - was based on a supernatural view of an interventionist Yahweh. So it's the explanation and not the process that atheists get pissy about. And yes, I've done my share of counter-arguing these literalist AA zealots who don't know they're drunk on dogma. The process or the principles are universal. They are as Hindu as they are humanist, atheist as they are Anglican, Buddhist as they are Baptist. These worldviews inform explanation of the same experience. A realist see's insanity as being overcome with sanity, the theist sees an act of God.
If supporting the principles (not the word for word 1939 description) of the 12-Step makes one an apologist, then Archer Voxx is one, too. I agree that many, many people get and stay sober without the 12 Steps. But I wouldn't use that term. Just as the Steps need to be in Icelandic for some vikings to get sober, the 1939 interpretation needs to be told in "secular" to get some of us sober. Voxx does a commendable job.
September 12, 2014
Brief book that serves its purpose: to explain how a person can utilize a 12-step recovery program without belief in "god" or more traditional "higher powers." I appreciated the emphasis on universal (spiritual) principles (e.g., non judgment). A good, brief, read for people who are curious about the real basics of 12 step philosophy without the distracting (and often, off-putting) god talk.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews