The answer is that the source of ga’avah actually comes from a very exalted source. A person feels big, because he truly has a neshamah that is extremely great! The problem is that that the guf distorts this feeling of greatness and makes a person feel as if he can do things on his own. That is, ga’avah is a kelipah of something that—at its root—is true. If it weren’t true at its source, it could never be sustained; there would never be such a thing as ga’avah.
This yesod applies to the topic of teshuvah as well. Often, when a person has a deep emotional feeling toward something, the emotion may be rooted in truth, but he made a mistake along the way, and that mistake ruins his life.
When a person despairs of ever being able to change, he has a dream—halevai I could learn a few hours every day, and not just any learning, but learning amid bittul to Hashem, learning Torah lishmah... halevai my davening could be the way it should be, halevai I could learn kabbalah. But he is in despair. This despair is rooted in the truth—because the truth is that he can’t reach these lofty levels on his own, and thus, he is daunted.
But he is making a mistake. He forgot that the Ribbono shel Olam helps us come close to Him. If you will do your part, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will help you. And we must know this, and feel it, with the greatest certainty that exists.
