Clear Paths

 When you walk in the woods a clear path is really welcome.  You know that you won't stumble into any poison oak, water ways are present, but not necessarily underfoot, and you don't get all scratched up fighting through the underbrush to get where you need to go. 


Usually, a clear path is one with a definite beginning and certain ending.  You know where you're going when you choose a clear path. 

But there are those times when you get lost in the woods.  You stumble around in the dark trying to find your way without getting hurt, but you often do.  You can run into wild animals, raging rivers, impassable mountains.  Mostly, if we're familiar with the territory we're moving through, we do manage to find our way back home.

Sometimes in unfamiliar ground we need help.  A ranger or local woodsman shows us the way out of our predicament.

O Sensei says the Great Path is really no path.Does that mean that we're never really lost?

It might, and my experience tells me that although clear paths are preferred, when I get lost is when I learn the most, pay attention the most, stay in the present the most, accept help the most, and, although my path may not be clear, I become clearer about who I am and what I want at the end of the trail.