Editing Narcotics Anonymous (section)

==Spirituality==
NA calls itself a [[Spirituality|spiritual]] program of recovery from the disease of [[addiction]]. The NA program places importance on developing a working relationship with a "[[Higher Power|higher power]]".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sixth Edition Basic Text, Narcotics Anonymous|publisher=Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.|year=2008|isbn=9781557767349|location=Chatsworth, California|pages=94}}</ref> The literature suggests that members formulate their own personal understanding of a higher power. The only suggested guidelines are that this power is "loving, caring, and greater than one's self and more powerful than the disease of addiction".

Members are given absolute freedom in coming to an understanding of a higher power that works for them. Individuals from various spiritual and religious backgrounds, as well as many atheists and agnostics, have developed a relationship with their own higher power.<ref name="BT6E"/> NA also makes frequent use of the word "God" and some members who have difficulty with this term substitute "higher power" or read it as an acronym for "Good Orderly Direction". Narcotics Anonymous is a spiritual, not religious program.

The twelve steps of the NA program are based upon spiritual [[Value (personal and cultural)|principles]], three of which are [[honesty]], [[open-mindedness]], and [[willingness]], embodied in the first three steps. These three are hardly exhaustive.  The Basic Text of NA says, in Chapter Four, about all twelve steps, "These are the principles which made our recovery possible".  According to NA members these principles, when followed to the best of one's ability, allow for a new way of life.

NA meetings usually close with a circle of the participants, a group hug, and a [[prayer]] of some sort. Prayers used to close meetings today include the "we" version of the "[[Serenity Prayer]]" ("God, Grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference."); the ''Third Step Prayer'' ("Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live.") or the "Gratitude Prayer" ("That no addict seeking recovery need ever die. ... My Gratitude speaks when I care and when I share with others the NA way.")