Any withdrawal from reality brings suffering. Meditation increases awareness of suffering; one learns that one is responsible - suffering is volitional. The worse the escapism, the worse the suffering. Increased suffering drives one to find a way out - hence the world is totally compassionate. There can never be eternal hells or hopeless cases.

Alan James founded the House of Inner Tranquillity, along with his wife Jacqui James in 1980. He continued to teach the way to enlightenment until his retirement in 2010.   

This talk was given in October 1985