This morning Val posted an interesting quote on her blog Matters of Integrity. To wit, "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." I find the quote interesting because I strongly agree with the first part of it, but I'm deeply troubled by the last four words.
Put a different way, this sentiment could have been stated thus -- Do not follow where the trail may lead. Go instead where there is no trail and leave markers behind.
As a Taoist, it should go without saying that I believe each person must find their own trail or path. Since we are each unique, our path through life must be unique as well. If we only follow trails cut by others, then we will find their truth, but not our own.
I think the reason I'm having trouble with the latter part of the message is because I'm a tree-hugging environmentalist. If we look at the history of humankind, our species has shown a great propensity to despoil new lands. Each time explorers blaze a new trail to wherever, civilization soon follows and this almost always upsets the balance of the ecosystem.
As I've mentioned here before, I'm currently reading a great book about the American fur trade in the Great Plains and Rockies during the 1830s. As intrepid explorers like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger forged new trails to places like California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, it set the stage for civilization to swoop in to destroy much of the flora and fauna of each region.
There's a second reason why the last clause rubs me the wrong way. Setting markers on a new trail is a form of egotism. It's one thing to blaze our own trail, but, the moment we formally mark it, we are inviting others to travel along the same route -- the route WE discovered. This, of course, flies in the face of the first half of the thought, each person finding their own way.
I can hear someone suggest that we need to mark our own trails, lest we become lost. If the trail is marked, we can always find our way back home. Unfortunately, for me, this is the point in which this metaphor breaks down. While marking one's trail might be a grand idea for the hiker, I don't think it applies in the overall scheme of life.
Each step we take and each moment of our existence changes us. Most of these changes are imperceptible, yet we are changed nonetheless. (For example, I'm not the same person I was two paragraphs ago, but I can't pinpoint exactly why.) Because of these changes, we can never retrace our steps in the way we made them the first time around. Our gait and stride will not be the same.
So, there really is no purpose in marking the trail. We can never go down it again.
Put a different way, this sentiment could have been stated thus -- Do not follow where the trail may lead. Go instead where there is no trail and leave markers behind.
As a Taoist, it should go without saying that I believe each person must find their own trail or path. Since we are each unique, our path through life must be unique as well. If we only follow trails cut by others, then we will find their truth, but not our own.
I think the reason I'm having trouble with the latter part of the message is because I'm a tree-hugging environmentalist. If we look at the history of humankind, our species has shown a great propensity to despoil new lands. Each time explorers blaze a new trail to wherever, civilization soon follows and this almost always upsets the balance of the ecosystem.
As I've mentioned here before, I'm currently reading a great book about the American fur trade in the Great Plains and Rockies during the 1830s. As intrepid explorers like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger forged new trails to places like California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, it set the stage for civilization to swoop in to destroy much of the flora and fauna of each region.
There's a second reason why the last clause rubs me the wrong way. Setting markers on a new trail is a form of egotism. It's one thing to blaze our own trail, but, the moment we formally mark it, we are inviting others to travel along the same route -- the route WE discovered. This, of course, flies in the face of the first half of the thought, each person finding their own way.
I can hear someone suggest that we need to mark our own trails, lest we become lost. If the trail is marked, we can always find our way back home. Unfortunately, for me, this is the point in which this metaphor breaks down. While marking one's trail might be a grand idea for the hiker, I don't think it applies in the overall scheme of life.
Each step we take and each moment of our existence changes us. Most of these changes are imperceptible, yet we are changed nonetheless. (For example, I'm not the same person I was two paragraphs ago, but I can't pinpoint exactly why.) Because of these changes, we can never retrace our steps in the way we made them the first time around. Our gait and stride will not be the same.
So, there really is no purpose in marking the trail. We can never go down it again.
What is the title of the book you are reading. Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteBruce
Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto. It won the Pulitzer Prize for history writing in 1947.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, RT. :)
ReplyDeleteCheck out my comment to your comment on my site....
Val,
ReplyDeleteI did and, as you already know, left my comment there.
Yet to the left of this page is a trail of a most interesting sort; flags of visitors past. Every bird in the sky will leave a footprint somewhere.
ReplyDelete