American Buddha Bulletin Board

To choose is to exist intentionally, or so we believe. We think we choose to believe, but beliefs grow from roots in soil too deep to fathom. When we investigate long enough, we realize that although most beliefs feel self-chosen, and certainly are self-shaping, we have picked them up from some second-hand belief store. Don Juan called it controlled folly -- carrying on as if we understood life's meaning, even though we know that none is ascertainable. Longchenpa talks about leaning one's clear mind like a traveler leaning on a walking stick. Perhaps when we see Dharma teachings as forms of controlled folly, views and practices we engage for the sake of inner significance, rather than publicly observable effects, we are actually using them correctly. That's the theory here, at least.