It says in the Tao, “Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing.”
The way I hear this in psychology is: motivation affects perception.
When I’m hungry, I see what’s edible. If I’m horny, I see what’s
makeable. If I’m tired, I see what’s soft, you know, my motivation
selects out of the infinity of the universe what it is that fits in with
my desires.
Since that’s the case, as long as you’re identified with your desires,
you can’t help but manipulate the universe to try to bring about that
gratification of your desires. If you carry that to its ultimate truth,
you see that everybody around you is an object to be manipulated to
give you that gratification.
So if it says, “Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing,” what does it
mean to have an eye unclouded by longing? It’s the place in your being,
in your awareness, which is not totally identified with your desire
system.
My sense is that to the extent you are not attached to your desire
systems, you are able to hear other human beings, and you do less of
projecting into them what you need, and the result is that out of your
action comes responses which are more compassionate to who they are than
your need at the moment.
So this doesn’t mean you don’t have desires, but rather there is a
paradox that’s hard to work with, which is this: “What does it mean to
be fully involved in life and non-attached?”
- Ram Dass
