The difference between Believing in Yourself and Having Confidence

Today’s popular psychology teaches that we develop confidence by believing in ourselves. But the truth is that believing in one’s self blocks the path to confidence.

Upon deeper reflection, one will appreciate that the word Confidence invokes the sense of belief in something other than ourselves alone. For example you have confidence in another person. Or you have confidence that a situation will somehow resolve itself. These are just two examples of where the source of comfort lies outside of ourselves, i.e. not from believing in ourselves.

A person who sincerely believes only in themselves is less likely to look for input or enlightenment from outside, because they believe that they already have what they need to resolve their situation. Granted, they may have much experience from similar situations in the past. But they fail to recognize that each situation has its own peculiarities, regardless of how similar it may appear to what they experienced in the past. They also have little or no confidence in anyone but themselves.

By contrast, a person who truly appreciates the meaning and value of confidence is somehow courageously inspired to look beyond their own knowledge. This makes them more open to advice or guidance, and to see the hidden opportunities for finding a way out of their predicament. The inner calm and subsequent solution that may emerge gives them the Confidence that indeed there is always a solution to any problem, even when they cannot see it at that particular moment.

This second group may not appreciate it, but their disposition indicates an unconscious belief in Providence (i.e. the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power). A person who only believes in him or herself automatically excludes him or herself from the protective care of Providence.

This does not mean that we should not believe in our “instincts”, guts, intuition (regardless of how one wants to describe this sensing). The nature of such belief is also based on that which lies outside of us, hence the difficulty in expressing its source. However, this sensing is very different from believing in ourselves, which is usually based on our reasoned analysis of a situation, using our minds and our thoughts. Such reasoning process invariably excludes any input from Providence, unless it is guided by inspiration coming through Providence i.e. our intuition or gut. In such cases, the thoughts behind their reasoning is driven by an unconscious belief and confidence that somehow things will work out, which in effect is confidence in Providence .

Therefore, Confidence is the gradual recognition that indeed we are not alone, and that we always have help around us. Just like children become confident to take their first steps when they see the standby support of the adult protecting against a fall.

Unfortunately, because of our ignorance of the processes that operate in Creation, when we partially perceive something, we immediately start to buildup our own theories and interpretations of what we have vaguely perceived. These unfounded interpretations invariably introduce errors that then hamper our Spiritual development, and create chaos in our earth life.

The only true path to freedom lies in us removing the many layers of ignorance, born out of these erroneous theories, with which we have wrapped ourselves. Needless to say, only familiarity with the Laws of Creation can help us free ourselves from the many well-meant advice and theories with which modern man is showered.