Definition: The Mental Lens = Tensions, frustrations and other similar feelings that are connected to the past and the future.
Introduction: When one is totally in the NOW, the current moment, one's sexual experience heightens. The NOW is a state of mind wherein one's mind is free of past bondings, frustrations, and worry about anything related to the future.
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A very good example of the 'direct experience of reality' is being in the NOW. The current moment. But this is very difficult to manage because of the(primarily hostile) emotional world of the human being, which forces him/her to live either in the past or in anticipation of the future.
Pink Floyd in their song 'Sorrow'(from 'Momentary Lapse of Reason'/'Delicate Sound of Thunder') sing:
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough...
His blood has frozen & curdled with fright
They are singing about what I am talking about in this post....the 'mental lens', and the emotional world that leads to it's creation.
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
(Lack of acceptance of the current life situation, dreaming of a future nirvana.)
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
Chained forever to a world that's departed, it's not enough it's not enough...
(Living in the past)
His blood has frozen, curdled with fright....
(The human emotional world tends to this so often in life....tensions, frustrations, fears....)
This sorrowful emotional world is what spiritual teachers call the 'mental lens'. This mental lens comes in the way of 'the direct experience of reality'. Or the clear perception of the surroundings and its people.
The human is not aware of this mental lens, and may not take this phrase seriously, but this is a reality. Calling this phenomenon a lens is not wrong because it distorts perception.
In other words, this phrase 'the mental lens' means that the average human lacks presence of mind. He is barely present. He is lost most of the time, in a mental haze, mental fog, the spooky realm of past and future.
For example, a drunken or drugged person can't see and hear properly. The surroundings may appear hazy etc. This is a glaring example of the mental lens...in the drunk person it has thickened due to the intoxication.
This hazy-foggy mental state is also the condition of the normal, un-intoxicated person, although to a lesser degree. But unfortunately it is not apparent to him. For example, when a pre-occupied person is at a beautiful hill station or at a beautiful beach, can he really see and feel the beauty around him? He can't. Because he is seeing everything through the 'mental lens'; his tensions, frustrations & sorrows are distorting & dulling his perception.
Summary:
All these emotions like tension, frustration & sorrow make up the 'mental lens' that comes in the way of clear perception of surroundings. Most of the time the human is not aware that his perception of the surroundings is dull.
Emotional pain is addictive. And there's plenty of it, in the person's past. His emotional world therefore guides him there. Pain attracts more pain, wants more pain, wants to give more pain. The past is a paradise, a painful paradise for a violent emotional world. So is a painful imaginary future.
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Click here to go to Spiritual Sex Part 1.
End Note: The Direct Experience of Reality is possible only when the mental lens wanes.