It is a process of disillusionment.  The scales have fallen away.
He sees himself soberly, and knows under what conditions his powers
must act, as well as what his powers are.  He has got rid of earlier
prepossessions about the world of men and affairs, both those which
were too favorable and those which were too unfavorable--both those
of the nursery and those of a young man's reading.  He has learned
his own paces, or, at any rate, is in a fair way to learn them; has
found his footing and the true nature of the "going" he must look
for in the world; over what sorts of roads he must expect to make
his running, and at what expenditure of effort; whither his goal
lies, and what cheer he may expect by the way.  It is a process of
disillusionment, but it disheartens no soundly made man.  It brings
him into a light which guides instead of deceiving him; a light
which does not make the way look cold to any man whose eyes are fit
for use in the open, but which shines wholesomely, rather upon the
obvious path, like the honest rays of the frank sun, and makes
traveling both safe and cheerful. 

II