Kāma (काम) is sensual pleasure in all its forms, it is also the personification of the god of love—akin to Eros in Greek mythology. Although kāma and artha are the two great evils, the kāma of love and intimacy is an essential need that fulfils a much higher purpose. In 1969, shortly before his death, the psychologist Abraham Maslow amended his seminal thesis on the hierarchy of human motivations. At the pinnacle of his hierarchy of needs, he now placed self-transcendence. Borrowed from Eastern philosophy, Maslow regarded the dissolution of ego to be the highest state of actualisation for people who were fortunate enough to ascend to this level of consciousness. Experientially, you get a glimpse of what this feels like in certain transcendental states in ordinary activities. In acts of intimacy, you can come closer to bridging the gap between your self and not self. In the space between a lover, you feel safe and secure to love, feel loved, and be able to love, feel respected and have self-respect; and you are able to turn your attention away from self-ishness towards more transhumanistic emotions like care for others, sympathy and self-sacrifice, for compassion and self-effacement, and for pure love.

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