Seeing both good and bad experiences as karmic appearances arising due to latencies on the mindstream loosens the solidity with which we view sentient beings and the environment… Similarly, attractive and unattractive objects, praise and blame, reputation and notoriety, and wealth and poverty simply appear to the mind due to the activation of latencies. They lack any external existence separate from the mind to which they appear. Therefore, there is no sense in clinging to some things and having aversion for others.

Humans learn by association; that includes values. We often assume that things or traditions we regard have some inherent meaning, but what if we had been taught otherwise? Maybe I would still believe in Santa if the world kept lying, or perhaps you would worship the forest if your parents did… you can teach anyone anything, given enough time and stimulus.

We take it for granted that everything we know is the truth, but if we had been taught the opposite, everything we believe now would be false. If meanings change with what we are told, then there is no meaning. Nothing is real.

Except us. We are free to explore the conceptions of our own mind and, if we wish, choose values based on that alone, but the value of our mind is fixed because it gives us the ability to perceive: everything is real because of us.