On any given day, our kleshas can seem as real as a gorilla wearing an electrically charged vest. It can seem daunting to even begin to consider approaching them. And, once we do, we feel it's going to get ugly in more ways than one. As curious humans, we need to look at the kleshas and understand whether or not we think they are real. The teachings say that our misunderstanding of our experience fuels the kleshas themselves and that we must take a closer look at our basic reactions to our experience. For example, consider desire and aversion. Both of these are fueled by our fundamental, gut-level belief that something is pleasant or unpleasant. This, however, is like putting mayo on your sandwich. The experience, like the sandwich, is already made and we're putting something on top of it. When we experience something, like a smelly trash can or a fragrant bush, there is a split second before we label. Think of very hot water. When you put your hand in very hot water, there is a moment where you don't know whether it is hot or cold. Eventually, we figure it out and label frantically.
At the level of logic, we can think through the fact that pleasant and unpleasant are in fact dependently related, meaning they don't have an inherent existence. When we do this, we realize that our kleshas are built on a faulty foundation. We must re-train ourselves in this view again and again.
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