We tend only to believe what we can see, and what we see is always filtered by our personal perception. Take the example of a man who is already extremely paranoid about imaginary problems and firmly believes he has ghostly tenants living in his cupboard. To tell such a person that the ghosts are a figment of his imagination will not help him at all because he is quite certain that ghosts exist. A far less time-consuming and more efficient approach would be to agree skillfully that in a way his paranoid delusion is real, and then offer a method for dispelling that delusion — such as calling in the Ghostbusters!
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices
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Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:
- Mara’s five arrows
- Wishing happiness for those who have hurt you
- Very little time left for practice
- Dealing with Emotions
- Remain alone and practise the dharma
- Opposite direction to dharma
- Sources of our inspiration
- Practise whichever method works for you
- Intention to benefit all sentient beings
- Sadness
- The decision to follow a spiritual path
- Absolutely nothing genuinely works
- The merit of maintaining mindfulness
- Right intention
- As they truly are
- Merely the product of your own perception
- To reject your aggression is a weakness
- Dharma is not a therapy
- Spiritual practice is like riding a bicycle