When we become conscious of our unworthiness, of our limitations, it certainly helps us, yet it can only really help us when we hope to become better. But if we stop there, then we might just as well stay there for ever. When a person says that he is too weak to become any better, he stays where he is, but when he admits to himself, "Yes, today I am weak, but tomorrow I will be better, I will try to be better," that is the right attitude. We should never allow that spirit of mastery which is in us to become blunted by a feeling of inability, for the essence of life is hope, and when we hope for the better, we shall be better; it cannot be otherwise. Hopelessness is worse than death. It is better to die than to lose hope.

We are able to do anything if we choose to make the effort. The difficulty is that often we do not choose to make an effort. And why not? Because we do not believe. What is generally lacking in man is belief; he does not believe. Another interesting thing is this: suppose there were ten people sitting in meditation and Providence granted them a boon--to ask for as much wealth as they would wish. Will all ten ask for the same amount? No, because no two will agree as to how much can be obtained. One will ask for a hundred, another for a thousand, a third will ask for a million, and a fourth for nothing because he will not believe that any can be obtained.

Although the river is flowing with clear water, the different people who go to it will not all be able to take the same quantity of water. The one who has a glass will take a glass, another who has a pitcher will take a pitcher, a third who has a rubber bag will fill that, and the one who has brought a tank will take a tankful. But no one will take the same quantity as another. And so it is with all of us in our lives: what we obtain is what our belief allows us to obtain, either wealth or virtue, power or rank or spirituality. What our belief does not allow us to attain to we do not attain to; we cannot attain it. It is difficult to say to what extent our belief allows us to attain, for we live in this world of limitation and we cannot believe beyond what we can see. What keeps us from believing is that we are impressed by the limitations around us, and we can never think of or believe in anything different from what we see.

How can one get belief? This is the most difficult question anyone can ask; for it cannot be learned, it cannot be taught, it is a grace of God. Belief is essentially the same thing as faith, but only when belief has become a conviction does it turn into faith. I remember my murshid giving me, in blessing me, this wish, "May your faith be strengthened." Being a young man, I thought, "Is that all he is saying to me, not, "May you be inspired, or illuminated, or prosperous," or something else?" But when I think of it now I know that in that blessing there was all. When belief is strengthened, then there is everything; all that we lack in life is mostly because of our lack of belief. But again, it is not something that one can learn or teach or that one can give to anybody; this comes from the grace of God.

To affirm a belief is one thing, and really to believe is another. Many will say that they believe, but few really believe. Yes, there are moments when a person is under the spell of belief, but then there come other moments when he is under a spell of unbelief. If this condition vanishes and there comes a steady flow of belief, then, as a river reaches the sea, that soul reaches perfection.