Baal HaSulam, Ohr Bahir: Confidence is faith in yourself. In the psychological sense it is a feeling of endurance. That’s because nothing will endure in the face of desire besides exhaustion or impatience in efforts.

Therefore, a hero feels a powerful force of patience within and does not give up in the face of anything, believing in himself and his strength. But a weak person feels that he does not have the force of patience, and when another person causes him to suffer, he cannot endure and therefore immediately surrenders to him.

Question: What is faith in yourself? It sounds egoistic.

Answer: The text is written in a way that it is deciphered differently below, in our world, and above, in the spiritual world. In our world you are willing to endure if you believe that you are right, if you aspire to the goal, if you really need something, or if you love the people for whom you make efforts, such as your children, relatives, and those close to you. On the other hand, in spirituality everything is done by the force of the Light that influences you.

It’s not a secret that heroism in our world is the force of egoism. We need envy, a passionate desire, self-love and other stimuli to “light ourselves up” and acquire the ability to endure. Besides, we receive the ability to endure from nature. Some people are able to endure great suffering from birth.

But when a person enters the spiritual world and begins working for the sake of bestowal, this stops playing a role. There are no more strong or weak. Everyone is on the same level and is not assisted by their material nature in any way. In the spiritual world a person needs the force that dresses Lights in him.

Obviously, here too every person differs from others, but he differs by his spiritual purpose, which is determined by the root of his soul. In every other regard he feels weak and powerless. The further a person advances, the weaker he feels, and the more he depends on the Light that reforms.

At first we are all heroes, “real men.” But then we begin to get weaker until we find that we have nothing left. That is how we get “broken,” realize our weakness and thanks to this, understand that we actually do not have to be able to do anything besides look for the forces to persist and endure.

I only have to find the force of faith. Then I will acquire the ability to endure, the force of bestowal operating above knowledge. Let me feel empty inside, let me have nothing worthwhile to work for, let me be completely devoid of energy because my egoism does not push me forward and does not give me forces. Yet, if I receive the force of bestowal from the Light that reforms, then I can already realize it. The degree of my confidence depends on this.

In the material world, the degree of my confidence depends on how much is contained in my receiving Kelim. But in spirituality it is on the contrary: The degree of my confidence depends on how much is contained in my bestowing Kelim.

No one has any “special favor” here and no one exceeds others in power. Every person descends to zero and experiences total emptiness and weakness, and then begins acquiring the force of bestowal that comes from above. But it happens only on the condition that he is merged with the upper one. The receiving desire must always be annulled before the upper one so that the bestowing desire would give a person the force of endurance and confidence.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/11 on Confidence

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