Ram Dass

The trouble is, we can only tell the truth when we cease to identify with the part of ourselves we think we have to protect. If we're afraid of being laughed at or taunted or killed, we can't tell the truth; we can't tell the truth if we're busy guarding some position. It's only when we realize that we're not as vulnerable as we fear we are that we can afford to tell the truth. Let's say I tell you the truth, and you don't like it, and you get up and walk out. That's your problem, not mine. But if I need your love, your interpersonal love, then I can't risk having you walk out on me, so I can't tell you the truth. I can never be straight with you if I need something from you. So in order to tell the truth to you, I have to give up whatever that need is in myself.

There is a very far out thing about Truth: That when you are rooted in Truth, really rooted in Truth, your word takes on power (and this is in fact is exactly what "powers" are all about), such that when you say something, it is so.

-Ram Dass, Paths To God p147