Page 72 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

know ourselves, in the depths as well as on the heights; if we

cannot penetrate into the depths of our own being, and be really
transparent to ourselves; if there is not any clarity within, any

illumination within — then we cannot speak the truth.

This is something which we all have to realize. If we do realize it,

we shall see that speaking the truth is no easy matter. We might
even go so far as to say — and I do not think this is an

exaggeration — that most of us, most of the time, do not speak
the truth. If we wanted to put it forcibly, not to say paradoxically,
we might even say that most of us, nearly all the time, speak

what is, in fact, a lie, and that our communication is, in fact, most
of the time, a lie, because we are not capable of speaking

anything else. We are incapable of speaking the truth in the
fullest sense. If we reflect, we might have to admit that most of
us go through life, year after year, from childhood, or at least

from adolescence, right into old age, without perhaps being able
even once to speak the truth in the fullest and clearest sense of

that much abused term.

We do know that if ever we are in a position to speak the truth,

then it is a great relief to be able to do that. Often we do not
realize how many lies we have been telling until we have an

opportunity, once in a while perhaps, of speaking the truth. We
all know that if something has been weighing on our mind, or on
our heart, something about which we were very worried or

concerned, if we can only speak out — only tell somebody the
truth of the matter, without holding back — then it is a very

great relief. Unfortunately this is something that happens, for
most people, very rarely in their lives, if indeed at all.

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