IS   SELF-CONFIDENCE  NOT  A  SELF-DECEPTION?

Dr Sudhansu KumarDash

The whole intellectual community in the world gives much emphasis to self-confidence. No doubt it is a good sign for the growth of mankind .But just probing deep into the matter one may confront a question as what self- confidence is. Only a man of real understanding can unveil the reality of it.

Is self-confidence not the ego parading in different names? It is certain that what we call self confidence has nothing to do with confidence. A man of confidence needs no confidence at all because confidence is simply there and one not even thinks about it. One may not even be aware of it that it is there. The reality is that when there is no confidence we put on a show to hide that lack of confidence, and we call that self-confidence. This is nothing but a mask. When this mask is shattered the so called self-confidence is shattered and only the self remains.  One needs self confidence only when one feels insecure. And the very idea of becoming secure creates the trouble. One should start to enjoy insecurity because the fact is that when a man is secure, he is dead.

The fundamental question is: why do we need self confidence? Is it not a seeking for justification, of security, of self protection, a desire to be well thought of, a desire to have position, prestige and power or have an existence after death? Because the mind is constantly searching security, it has a desire to continue and hope for a means of fulfillment for a future existence. Such a mind, though it is seeking the truth of life after death, reincarnation or whatever it is, is incapable of discovering that truth. What is important here is not whether reincarnation is true or not but how the mind seeks it through a pseudo confidence, which is nothing but a self –deception. Is not it? What is important here is the approach to the problem, with what motivation, with what urge or desire one comes to it.

The fact is that the seeker imposes this deception upon himself and no one can impose it upon him. One creates deception and then becomes slave to it. The fundamental factor of self deception is the constant desire to be secured in this world and the world here after.

One, who is established upon the self, needs no confidence. It is enough to prove that one trying to acquire self confidence is away from the self and living on a pseudo-self. As one is identified with the mask and when it is shattered, one is hurt. It hurts badly, terribly. But all these have to be shattered.