The First Path

The First Path

You’ve met the guide who knows how to navigate the maze you find yourself in and are presented with a choice:

Do you let him help you find the way, or do you go on your own?

Let’s say you choose to navigate yourself to the end of this maze. What would that look like?

Remember: this maze is not something you’ve ever seen before. It is made of thick, tall hedges; it’s shrouded in fog and you cannot see more than a few feet in front of you; there are obstacles along the way that aim to distract, demoralize, and trick you into going a certain way. There are even others who call themselves ‘guides’ who not only leave you in no better place than where you started, but also take from you precious time and resources.

So you start navigating on your own. You are disoriented, but you manage the best that you can and proceed forward into the brush.

You are instantly met with decisions to make: Which direction should you proceed? Should you turn right? Or left? Maybe you should continue straight. What if you choose incorrectly?

So you make a decision somewhat blindly and you quickly come to dead end. Not so bad, you think. You found this dead-end quickly and can still backtrack to where you started.

Now you go in a different direction. But this time it is a much longer walk before encountering another choice. You now find yourself surrounded by fog at an intersection.

In one direction, you can begin to make out some light through the fog. Another direction is much darker, and a third where the fog appears to lessen.

As you decide on which direction to walk, you realize that this is more difficult than you originally thought. The light might indicate the end of the maze while the direction with less fog means you can see better.

But how do you know the dark, foggy direction isn’t the right one?

You end up heading towards the light and as you walk closer, you see that you are approaching a small camp fire, where there is a camper tending to it. They look friendly and invite you to have a seat. Tired, hungry, and cold you have a seat with them and begin to talk.

They say they can help you find the end of the maze. All you need to do is sit with them for a few days and they will share with you valuable information. But there is another cost: not only do you spend valuable time with them, but they also ask that you leave them with some of your food and water as payment.

At this point, you are desperate, and the warm fire is appealing, so you oblige to pay and hear what they have to say.

Over the next few days, the camper tells you their stories. However, you soon realize that none of them are actually helping you find the end of the maze. It is somewhat useful information about the maze, but not ultimately it does not help you navigate it.

You begin to realize that your payment did not go towards anything meaningful before being sent back into the maze on your own after having wasted valuable time and resources.

You are again on your own, except now less encouraged with an additional problem of now having to find more food. You tire quicker and are colder than before. You begin questioning whether this is something you still want to do.

You try navigating back to where you were before finding the camper when suddenly everything starts moving. The hedges begin to shift. Some walls fall and new ones go up. The entire maze is unrecognizable from when you began.

After having lost time, resources, and patience you are now even more lost than before.

You think to yourself ‘Ok, I should have gone with the proven guide at first. This is not something I can do alone.’

But how do you know you could have trusted the original man who offered his help? How do you know he is different from the camper you just met who didn’t help in any way?

You will learn soon what makes him different.

Will you now accept his help?