"Does this path have a heart?"

"The next point is that everybody has his own path. There are a thousand paths to discovering yourself, to becoming. Every one of you will find your own way. Don't let anybody impose theirs on you."
~ Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D. (in Living Loving and Learning)

In that same section, Buscaglia goes on to quote Carlos Castaneda (The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge) :

Each path is only one of a million paths. Therefore, you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. If you feel that you must follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear and ambition. I warn you: look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question. It is this: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same. They lead nowhere. They are paths going through the brush or into the brush or under the brush. Does this path have a heart is the only question. If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.

The question was one I was thinking about today during my quick side trip into the canyon. Believing that "a path is only a path", doesn't always seem so simple. Figuring out if it has a heart is slightly easier.

#