When we decide to travel somewhere, it’s a good idea to know where we’re going before we set out. Otherwise, we’ll waste time driving around aimlessly. Similarly, we need to set clear goals for ourselves to ensure that we’re using our resources efficiently.
Most of us come to insight meditation because we have consciously admitted to ourselves that there is something missing in our lives. When we are not explicitly aware of this, our actions are still aimed at filling the same void but they are unconscious in nature. It’s as if we have set out knowing that we need to arrive somewhere else but don’t know where.
Through insight meditation, we are able to bring the problem into our awareness so that we can fully admit there is a gap. The gap we are trying to fill is the space in between the limited pleasure we gain from the satisfaction of our cravings.
Once the problem is clear, the solution becomes more evident just as knowing where we want to go makes it easier to get there. Careful observance of moment to moment reality reveals what is causing the gap – our own inability to be fully present. This leads us immediately to the solution which is to train the mind to observe what we’re doing so that we gradually reduce the tendency to grasp for future desires.