Recovery Spirituality

Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is adapting to a broader cultural shift in how spirituality is understood, now encompassing both traditional religious and secular spiritual frameworks. The paper argues that a distinct wing of recovery spirituality is emerging within A.A., grounded in experiences of transcendence (horizontal and vertical) and connection (mutuality). It identifies six facets of spirituality—Release, Gratitude, Humility, Tolerance, Forgiveness, and a Sense of Being-at-home—that are shared across religious, spiritual, and secular recovery pathways. The growing diversity within A.A., from "Christianizers" to "Seculizers," reflects the organization's response to the wider diversification of religious experience and the increasing secularization of spirituality in the surrounding culture.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There is growing interest in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and other secular, spiritual, and religious frameworks of long-term addiction recovery. The present paper explores the varieties of spiritual experience within A.A., with particular reference to the growth of a wing of recovery spirituality promoted within A.A. It is suggested that the essence of secular spirituality is reflected in the experience of beyond (horizontal and vertical transcendence) and between (connection and mutuality) and in six facets of spirituality (Release, Gratitude, Humility, Tolerance, Forgiveness, and a Sense of Being-at-home) shared across religious, spiritual, and secular pathways of addiction recovery. The growing varieties of A.A. spirituality (spanning the “Christianizers” and “Seculizers”) reflect A.A.’s adaptation to the larger diversification of religious experience and the growing secularization of spirituality across the cultural contexts within which A.A. is nested.