A Student of Christian Science soon learns that if he would demonstrate unshakable poise, he must lift his thoughts beyond the shifting sands of personal self-confidence and base them squarely on the rock, Truth. Personal self-confidence is only a temporary expedient, founded on the belief in a mind apart from God, and must ultimately betray all who rely upon it.
On the other hand, true confidence is the fruit of the understanding of man's unity with God, the divine Mind. God must be seen and acknowledged as All, as the infinite source of all action and intelligence. When self-importance and self-will abate, self-consciousness goes too, and the student proves something of his true being as the individual expression of Mind, the one Ego or I AM.
An egotist often gives the impression of confidence and poise; but such poise is spurious, since it is based on an inflated sense of self. Egotistical self-confidence is a tense and weary facade, often hiding a lurking sense of inadequacy. It attempts to force self-command by the use of human will. The path of humility is the sure and certain way to genuine self-command. Humility acknowledges God as the source of all true worth and ability, and the individual who keeps this primal fact before his mental gaze will soon lose a limiting, personal sense of himself. Man is the image and likeness of God. He has no mind apart from God, the one Mind. Because Mind is doing all the knowing, man therefore knows only by reflection. The humility that will accept this great fact opens the way to true poise. We do not have to force poise; it flows from the understanding of God's omnipotent control.
