Higher Power (HP [1]) is a term used in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other twelve-step programs.[2] The same groups use the phrases "a power greater than ourselves" and "God of our understanding" synonymously. The term is intentionally vague because the program is not tied to a particular religion or spiritual tradition; members may use it to refer to any supreme being or deity, another conception of God, or even non-supernatural things such as the twelve-step program itself.
A belief in a Higher Power ("HP") is required [by Alcoholics Anonymous]; officially, this can be any power higher than oneself — the group itself, for example. Unofficially, it is the traditional Christian male God; members in my study sample were strongly pressured to make God their higher power.