Page 129 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

be honest with ourselves. (Those who find it surprising that

complete honesty with other people is not to b expected of us,
should ask themselves if they realize how difficult this is. I

remember once reading that the first thing of which one became
conscious on sitting down to write one's autobiography was all
the things one was not going to tell, and this is very true. It is

difficult enough for us to be honest with ourselves, not to speak
of being honest with other people!) If we want to practise the

Four Exertions we must at least be honest with ourselves, and try
to see ourselves as we truly are, so that we know what needs to
be prevented, or eradicated, or developed, or maintained. Most

of us have our own private dream-picture of ourselves. Closing
our eyes, we see ourselves as though in a mirror and think, 'How

beautiful! How noble!' This is the highly idealized picture which,
most of the time, we have of ourselves. Not endowed, perhaps,
with all the virtues, not quite perfect, but a really warm, lovable,

sympathetic, intelligent, kind, well-intentioned, honest,
industrious human being — that is what we usually see. What we

have to try to develop, what we have to demand and almost to
pray for is, in the words of the poet, the grace 'to see ourselves
as others see us'. And to see ourselves as others see us is of

course not very easy. We have to undertake a sort of mental
stocktaking of our own skilful and unskillful mental states — our

own 'vices' and 'virtues'. Though no moral absolutes are involved
here, we at least have to understand our own minds, or our
own mental states and mental qualities, very seriously and

honestly before we can even think of applying the Four
Exertions. Otherwise we shall not know how to proceed, and no

real improvement — no real development — will be possible.

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