At the invitation of a friend, I recently attended a talk by a Buddhist monk. He spoke about the Four Attachments: to sensual pleasure, to rituals, to views, and to the self. In particular, he spoke about attachment to views.

We are all attached to our views, said the monk. We have political views, business views, views about our friends and enemies. We have views about everything. In fact, it is hard to see how we could manage at all without views. What could the Buddha mean when he warned against attachment to views?

Well, he continued, the Buddha was not concerned about views themselves. He warned against attachment to them. The problems come, said the Buddha, not when I have a view, but when I simultaneously believe that my view is right.

Now, said the monk, this is a very strange position. For the Buddha and his followers, though they arose from a largely Hindu culture, had quite separate and distinct beliefs and practices from the Hindus. So how on earth could the Buddha simultaneously promote a view and detachment from that view?

Immediately I thought of the last three Steps. My practice of them is halting and crude, but I do try and do them constantly. And one consequence has been this: I'm pretty sure that what I'm doing is right, but it no longer matters whether it is right. Perhaps it will change tomorrow -- it doesn't concern me. And in that place, that place of belief without the assurance of being right, I've found what little peace I now have.