What does "either God is everything or else He is nothing" mean in its place?
In short:
- The line is on page 53 of the Big Book, in Chapter 4, "We Agnostics," a chapter written in the voice of members who had thought they were atheists or agnostics, for readers who still are (pp. 44, 53).
- In place, it describes the choice the writers say they faced once alcoholism had crushed them: "God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?" (p. 53) The book does present it as a question that couldn't be dodged, and it argues that believing is more reasonable than leaving it at "We don't know" (p. 53).
- The same chapter says how small the start can be. Willingness to believe in a Power greater than yourself is enough to begin (pp. 46–47), and "we mean your own conception of God" (p. 47). The either-or is about whether God is, not about which idea of God to accept.
- So context complicates the reading of the line as an ultimatum. The choice is real and stark in the book. But it's the writers' account of their own turning point, argued for at length, inside a chapter that asks only for willingness at the start.
The paragraph
Page 53 begins by praising reason: "Logic is great stuff. We liked it. We still like it." (p. 53) The power to reason is "one of man's magnificent attributes" (p. 53). The writers, being "agnostically inclined," wouldn't be satisfied with a proposal that couldn't be reasonably approached, so they set out to explain "why we think it more sane and logical to believe than not to believe" (p. 53). They call their old habit of throwing up their hands and saying they didn't know "soft and mushy" (p. 53).
Then the line. When they became alcoholics, crushed by a crisis they couldn't postpone or evade, they had to face "the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing" (p. 53). "Arrived at this point, we were squarely confronted with the question of faith." (p. 53)
The next paragraphs describe how that felt: - The bridge. Some of them had "walked far over the Bridge of Reason toward the desired shore of faith" (p. 53), and were grateful reason had brought them so far, but "somehow, we couldn't quite step ashore" (p. 53). - Faith all along. They saw they had already been living by a kind of faith: faith in their own reasoning (pp. 53–54), and worship of people, money, themselves, or a sunset (p. 54). "Hence, we saw that reason isn't everything." (p. 54) - Where they looked. They came to see that faith in some kind of God was part of their make-up, and that "We found the Great Reality deep down within us." (p. 55) - Stepping ashore. The chapter ends with the story of a minister's son who thought he was an atheist; after the thought "Who are you to say there is no God?" (p. 56), "He had stepped from bridge to shore." (p. 56)
What the chapter asks for at the start
Earlier, the chapter sets the entry point low: - They began to get results as soon as they could lay aside prejudice and express "even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves" (p. 46), even though none of them could fully define that Power (p. 46). - "Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him." (p. 46) - "When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God." (p. 47) - The one question to ask yourself: "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" (p. 47) - Different conceptions in the personal stories "are questions for each individual to settle for himself" (p. 50).
Reading it whole
Both things are in the text, and a fair reading keeps both. The passage is not soft: it says the issue had to be faced, it treats "We don't know" as a place the writers left, and the chapter argues for belief over the next three pages. It is also not a demand to accept anyone's doctrine. It's set out as "we" (the writers' own experience), it comes with reasons rather than as an order, and it sits in a chapter whose starting requirement is willingness and whose God is the reader's own conception.
Does the context change the reading?
It complicates it. Quoted alone, the line can sound like a test of total belief that a newcomer must pass on the spot. In place, it's former agnostics describing the turning point they reached, after saying a newcomer can begin with willingness alone.
Read it yourself
- Chapter 4, "We Agnostics" (pp. 44–57), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt4.pdf
- Related: What does "deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God" say? · Do I have to be religious to work the Steps? · Does Step 12 require believing in God a certain way? · Is A.A. a religious organization?
- The full book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is sold by A.A. World Services at https://onlineliterature.aa.org.
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 4, "We Agnostics" | 44–56 | 1939 |
Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). The Preface says the program chapters have been "left largely untouched" since 1939 (p. xi).
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.