Rinpoche: ...it is as if each of us is outside a beautiful walled city. We burn to enter, yet the walls-- the illusions-- keep us out. So we build ladders. Each person's ladder is made from a different design. In reality the appearance of the ladder is not important. Only its ability to breach the wall...

Rinpoche: People grow attached to their ladders, Dr Burke. They understand the climb over the wall only in terms of the rungs on the ladder they have built.

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~~John Donahue, Deshi.

Rinpoche is speaking on enlightenment, in case you're wondering.

He's right. Everyone only understands the trip in terms of their own path there. When you reach the end, it's called enlightenment.

When you can see and understand another person's path, it's called empathy.

When you insist that your path is the only path, that's called fundamentalism.

And when you insist that since there is no one path, your ladder is going to be perfectly fine because you want it to be fine, that's called stupidity. Also, possibly, a ticket to an ambulance ride.