INSPIRING WISDOM

Self-Confidence – An Understanding

It is clear that God did not intend to make life a path of roses. From the very early stages of one's existence, He has prepared difficulties and opposition for our every step. See how many difficulties the tiny babe must overcome before it learns to walk and stand erect. It is clear…that difficulties are not additions to life, but vital portions of life; obstacles are not thrown on our road by mere accident, they are part of the road. Difficulties stimulate self-expression. Difficulties call forth the finer and deeper faculties of man. God's plan…is to induce (people) to obtain through their own efforts and labors the gifts He has prepared for them.

The chief hindrance in a person's life is fear. Fear interferes with the realization of one's deeper self. Fear has a terrifying effect, it hinders every expression of the mind, it obstructs the free flow of emotion, it interferes with the functions of bodily organs, it keeps man in a restricted and sometimes agonized state. Fear has a pernicious effect upon one's whole life. It interferes with one's vital processes, it beclouds his mental powers, it slackens his ambitions, it lowers his aspirations, it leads his thought to gloomy barren spheres that make life an unendurable stretch. Why do only some reach their goal, while the ambitions of multitudes remain stunted? Our answer is that most people are hindered by fear… It is fear that paralyzes their efforts; it is fear that holds them back. Fear has not one redeeming effect for the destruction it creates. Fear is basically an error; it is the result of an erroneous conception of life, which implies that life is filled with adversity, that the world is pregnant with danger, that man's existence is a chain of misery, forged in links of bitterness and hostility. When one is afraid, he is placing himself in an invisible prison-house. He becomes a reduced man. He has lost confidence in himself… On the other hand, there is courage, the power that downs all difficulties, that lends strength to all the constructive forces within man, that fans his enthusiasm, that keeps his heart warm, his mind in a creative state, his hopes and aspirations fresh and green. Courage is the weapon with which we overcome opposition. It is a device by the use of which we may conquer the difficulties and obstacles life offers. Courage is a Divine gift that enables us to overcome fear, look at danger with a smile, defy all obstacles. For it is in the nature of courage to minimize the stings of adversity, to remove obstructions to achievements and success. Armed with courage, nothing is too difficult, nothing too remote, nothing too high for our reach. Although cowardice is a weakness, it does not mean that the cowardly is destitute of the Divine gift of courage. Lack of courage may be corrected through prayer. You can obliterate cowardice through verbalized or affirmative prayer. …fear enters the mind only when faith is absent. Faith in God lifts and fortifies man…

The timid soul is a very unhappy individual. The timid person acts as if there were a deep barrier between his life and the rest of the world… In order to conquer timidity, two procedures are necessary… One entails one's own efforts, while the other is an appeal for Divine help. To conquer timidity it is essential to pray for courage… We pray to Him that He may unlock the reservoir of our courage, and that timidity may thereby be driven forth…

Inferiority does not exist outside of its existence in the human mind. Human capacity is like a spring of water concealed under the surface of the ground. You must dig and make an outlet for it and then it will yield its refreshing stream with greater and greater abundance. God has stored away in man's consciousness treasures of wisdom and understanding, layers of power and might, which are ready for service at man's behest. He bestowed upon each one the powers of perception… He invested each one with judgment… He…instilled in each one the power of imagination… God has also placed in man the power of the will… …man must exercise the gifts with which God endowed him. …confidence in oneself is a religious attitude. It fundamentally implies respect for the gifts which God invested in one's being… …just as it is an ethical violation to harbor an attitude of superiority, just as arrogance is to be regarded as a deep infringement upon virtue, so is self-depreciation or self-disparagement to be looked upon as an abrogation of the higher ideals of life. One may feel humble in the presence of God…but he must not feel inferior to his fellow man.

Our lack of accomplishment is not due to a deficiency in our powers, but to our lack of confidence in the powers we possess. Self-reliance is the key to achievement. The first step to achievement is faith – faith in oneself; faith in the Divine powers within oneself. God created man in His own image. He invested him with thought of His own Reservoir of Thought, with feeling of His own Inexhaustible Fountain of Feeling, with judgment of His own Wisdom, with foresight of His own Vision; He made him the visible representative of His own Powers. Man is a Divinity in miniature, possessing Divine, creative qualities. It is on these qualities that man should rely. Self-reliance means self-trust. Not only should one achieve self-reliance by giving expression to his own creative thought, but he should show self-reliance also in the apparently disheartening circumstances of his life. If you are self-reliant, poverty will not dishearten you, misfortune will not crush you, threatening circumstances will not frighten you, you will shake all of these from your soul… Even if you have lost everything, but you have your self-confidence left, you have really lost nothing. It is only when you lose your confidence in yourself that you have nothing more to lose. …self-reliance in every circumstance of life will bring forth the treasures of greatness hidden in your soul. Man's true self, his truly creative self, his truly noble self, makes its way to the fore when he becomes self-reliant. Without trust in his ability, without confidence in himself, he is prone to be faced with a series of disappointments. Those who are fostering within themselves a sense of inferiority, be the cause what it may be, are limiting themselves to a low level… A man should therefore never consider himself among the inferior; such a view will only interfere with his rise, with his gain, with his development. A man must do his best in sustaining and spreading ideals in which he believes. …in the process of doing our best, thoughts multiply, skill increases, imagination is stimulated, and one's stature grows from day to day.

There are individuals who cannot face responsibility because they always hesitate. Confronted with the slightest problem, they are thrown into a state of confusion… They possess good judgment, but they have no confidence in their judgment… They have a good understanding…but they do not trust their own understanding. Because of the absence of self-confidence, men and women have permitted their fine powers to rust. Indecision has a noxious effect both upon body and mind. Indecision will bring forth fear. Indecision also invites anxiety and morbidity. …learn to make your own decisions… dependence upon the judgment of others accentuates timidity. God did not make one man decisive and another man hesitant and indecisive. Indecision is a human habit. One can therefore develop the habit of decision just as he does the habit of indecision. God endowed man with the power of judgment and decision. Decision…means that the mind has placed its signature to a definite move or procedure, that it has subscribed to the attainment of a specific purpose, that it has bound itself to carry out a specific plan. An individual must be able to decide for himself what is advantageous and what is not advantageous, what is good and what is bad, what is wholesome and what is injurious to his existence.

Let it be clear that we do not identify hesitation with deliberation. …deliberation is always followed by a firm decision. The individual emerges from clouds into light, from uncertainly into conviction… …man is privileged with three-fold growth: the growth of the body, the growth of the mind, and the growth of the spirit. Doubt is only a confusing force… A doubtful, skeptical, cynical attitude toward life has never gained anything, never profited anyone… …even when circumstances are not at all advantageous they will exercise no discouraging influence if the mind keeps its inner eye turned to the bright horizon. The most precious power is the power over our self, the finest achievement is mastery over the self. The mind is the master of the body…it has the power to control and regulate its tendencies and dispositions. …the whole body echoes the state of mind. Self-mastery means the ability to constantly follow one's better judgment, despite the tug of other desires; it means the surrender of the self to the finer sensibilities in the self; it means a complete deliverance of the self to the highest within oneself.

Just as a person may conquer outer obstacles and thus change the course of his or her life, so too may he also conquer inner detriments and change his character and disposition. A person's outer conquests are testimony of his physical strength and mental skill, but his inner conquests, his achievement of self control, self mastery, is testimony of his spiritual power and Divine aim. …mankind is born to be a master – master over circumstances and master over himself… The one who sets out to uproot ingrained tendencies which he knows to be injurious to his best self, and plants in their stead habits and reactions which enhance his life, that is a truly successful individual. A negative attitude blocks the road to the creative forces in us. The negative mind sees itself extremely limited. A negative mind always sees the dark side of life. It is permeated with a kind of pessimism which holds the individual in a prison house, and from that dark abode he views the whole world. He sees that he will not succeed, even before he begins his task. He quickly decides it cannot be done. An individual does not advance further than the boundary line of his own mental state. If he thinks it cannot be done, he will surely find it so, and he will not do it. A negative attitude is in reality a sickly attitude, for it obstructs the clear vision of an individual. A negative attitude destroys self-confidence, it shatters a person's ambitions… blocks the road to creative forces within us. The affirmation altogether marks the very opposite state of mind. It is the state of mind that does not magnify limitations, that does not see unconquerable barriers…and does not turn back when confronted by hardship.

There is a power of endurance held in reserve of which one is not aware, but which is always there to help us face the critical situations of life. You have within yourself a dynamo of tremendous power, and once it is set in motion it is capable of generating such intense and increasing energy that mountains and worlds will move before its path. Now what exactly is this reserve power within, of which one is fairly conscious and which nevertheless is always with him? This reserve power is nothing other than Divine power. God has stored man's greatest powers in the deeper realm of his being…in the soil of his spirit… Set yourself a goal… Do not worry over your ability to achieve, you have the ability, it is there or it will come forth at the demand of the will. The intensity of the desire determines the volume of energy that will be set free in pursuit of this goal. …in times of adversity, be not dismayed, be not discouraged, do not look backward, but have faith in God and do your best.

A man with confidence always aims high… A man with confidence in himself is never down, or if he is down, he is down only to gather new forces, to make new plans…to find new ways that will enable him to rise to even greater heights. Self-confidence is not egotism, it is not conceit. The conceited boasts of what he can do, the man of self-confidence just does it. Conceit is a vice, self-confidence is a virtue. Without confidence in himself, he may dream beautiful dreams, he may see visions of achievement, but his dreams will leave no trace of reality behind him. …in all circumstances, trust your inner powers. …confidence in oneself is a religious attitude. …it means that one trusts the implements to which God gave them… And this is not an attitude of conceit, it is an attitude of faith – you are trusting the Divine that is in you.

Thus, we can see, in our wiser years, when we sit in our silent chamber of thought, that as we look over the list of our disappointments in life, that the greater of them we could have avoided if we had faced correctly the problems of our life. We know that the correct way to face life is with faith.