Paul uses the analogy of a short walk to a gate to explain how it is not so much the Buddha's path to enlightenment that takes the time, but rather it is our habitual tendency to ignore reality and resist life that means we don't go straight to it. It is through vipassana (Insight meditation) that we correct our warped views of life and release ourselves from attachment, for, whilst there is still clinging to the parts, the whole can never be seen and understood.

Paul Harris is the Spiritual Head and principal meditation teacher at the House of Inner Tranquillity.                 

This talk was given in June 2013