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Addressing Obstacles, Weaknesses and Limitations Through the Connection with the Divine Power · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There are so many obstacles and difficulties that confront the
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  spiritual seeker precisely because the work of transforming
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  human nature in each element involves dealing with endless
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  numbers of embedded habits, instincts, trained responses,
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  etcetera. It is virtually a constant
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  effort to address each and every one of these concerns as they
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  arise, because the seeker generally starts from the
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  standpoint of the ego. He tends to treat these things
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  as personal failures or weaknesses, and he then tends to
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  become fixated on addressing them with his own efforts
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  through exercise of willpower or other means he has at his
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  disposal. He soon finds out, however, that
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  these issues are larger and more deeply entrenched, being part of
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  the general development of nature in the world then his own
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  unaided effort can solve. The more he focuses on and
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  fixates himself on these weaknesses, limitations, and
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  difficulties, the more they tend to overwhelm his efforts and he
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  can quickly sink into a state of despair of ever finding the
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  solution. The solution lies therefore, not
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  in trying to accomplish the result using human powers, but
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  through moving his focus away from this fixation and shifting
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  his attention to the divine and his connection to the divine.
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  Through identification with the psychic being, he can get in
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  touch with the deep aspiration, consecration, devotion, faith
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  and dedication that links him to the divine power, which then can
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  work in him to accomplish what he cannot do on his own,
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  Sriorobindu observes quote. While the recognition of the
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  divine power and the attunement of 1's own nature to it cannot
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  be done without the recognition of the imperfections in that
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  nature, yet it is a wrong attitude to put too much stress
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  either on them or on the difficulties they create, or to
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  distrust the divine working because of the difficulties 1
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  experiences, or to lay too continual an emphasis on the
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  dark side of things. To do this increases the force
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  of the difficulties, gives a greater right of continuance to
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  the imperfections. I do not insist on a coistic
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  optimism, although excessive optimism is more helpful than
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  excessive pessimism. That coyism tends to cover up
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  difficulties, and there is besides always a measure to be
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  observed in things. But there's no danger of your
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  covering them up and deluding yourself with too bright an
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  outlook. Quite the contrary, you always
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  lay stress too much on the shadows, and by so doing thicken
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  them and obstruct your outlets of escape into the light.
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  Faith, more faith. Faith in your possibilities,
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  faith in the power that is at work behind the veil, faith in
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  the work that is to be done and the offered guidance.
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  There cannot be any high endeavour, least of all in the
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  spiritual field, which does not raise or encounter grave
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  obstacles of a very persistent character.
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  There are both internal and external, and although in the
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  large they are fundamentally the same for all, there may be a
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  great difference in the distribution of their stress or
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  the outward form they take. But the one real difficulty is
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  the attunement of the Nature with the working of the Divine
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  Light and power. Get that solved, and the others
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  will either disappear or take a subordinate place.
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  And even with those difficulties that are of a more general
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  character, more lasting, because they are inherent in the work of
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  transformation, they will not weigh so heavily because the
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  sense of the supporting force and a greater power to follow
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  its movements will be there. End Quote.
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  Reference. Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga,
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  Chapter 3 in difficulty, pages 47 to 48.