Truth and the Way

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stract concepts. Such a view will not be the narrow range of an
individual vision which is coloured by personal likes and dislikes,
love and hate, attraction and repulsion, be they physical or mental;
it does not isolate the wave from the ocean; it does not dissect a
living organism to find out what makes it live; it does not speculate
on the essence of existence, on the substance of phenomena, on the
abiding entity of the absolute. But, right view is always aware of
those subtle moves of the mental process, in which the mind has
set up itself as an arbitrator, as an independent judge or witness
of a passing show, whereas in actuality the show takes place in the
mental process itself. I am that show, which is impermanent, full of
conflict, and full of ignorance and ambition and pride which says “I
am”.
Right view sees all that, and realises the truth of that delusion,
and so is free of it. It seems a contradiction to speak of the truth
of a delusion, but it is no more than a paradox, seemingly absurd,
though well-founded on fact: the fact that we are deluded; and that
is the truth. But he who sees that truth is no more deluded, for he
does not stand apart as a witness, he does not discover a principle of
action and of thought; but he realises that there is no actor and no
thinker apart from acting and thinking. And in that right view of
non-entity, there is the view of totality, of conditionality in arising
and ceasing, which leads to perfect coordinated thinking (sammāsaṅkappa),
the only basis for right action, right speech, right effort,
of which we shall speak next.