The AA tells us, "do not be discouraged." Why am I discouraged? I am discouraged, because I see it impossible for me to accept spiritual help.

The book comes back to my rescue again. It says, "no one among us has been able to adhere..." "The point is we are willing...." I am encouraged again, not by one person's experience only but by the collective evidence of the fellowship. And thus I come to believe in a truth that I found was impossible to accept in the beginning.

One of the things that I was presented with in the beginning, was will my life get worse by believing and accepting spiritual help? I tried the experiment. I got sober despite all my notions to the contrary. I have since tried many more things and guess what, it works.