There is a well-established myth that you can only find wisdom and enlightenment "Off the beaten path." The well-beaten path is viewed as ordinary and boring. This myth is perpetuated by the metaphor of the less-used road seen as a bucolic dirt road, as compared to the littered asphalt highway of ordinary life. A better metaphor for the less-beaten path would be being lost in a dense forest.
You can compare the well-beaten path to a road leading to specific destinations. You don't have to follow a single path, but can choose from many, all with well-identified directions. The well-beaten paths to safety, joy, comfort, excitement, danger, and self-destruction have been walked on before and found to be true. Your life is a first for you, but many others have lived before you. Collective memories of the past, which you inherited with pride, and hopes for a future, which you long for with faithful hope, serve to maintain your present values. You don't need to get lost for the sake of getting lost. Therefore, ask yourself, "Where do I want to find myself?" Not many would seek the goal of self-destruction, though some may find themselves on the way to it. People who find themselves on this path either don't trust the experience of other godly people or don't heed the signposts warning of danger.
Traveling the well-beaten path (besides being safe and predictable) integrates you into your spiritual community. Deviation from it alienates you and alienation promotes further deviation. If you want to make a new path by walking in unknown territory, be sure you possess an accurate spiritual compass.
In your life you are confronted frequently with situations that require making choices. Though you may know the right thing to do and the correct path to take, you may mislead yourself by internal arguments, which pit your wishes against your reason, your fears against your defenses. You may consider the ethical, moral, and even legal implications of a choice and simultaneously try to counterbalance them with self-made wisdom and philosophy. You may list the pros and cons of intended actions and weigh and calculate the prospects. None of these elaborate schemes brings comfort or the desired result, unless the decision coincidentally aligns with your spirit. But relying on serendipity is too chancy, too complicated, and a waste of precious time.
Like all other things in life, there is an easier way. God says, "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask which paths are the old, reliable paths. Ask which way leads to blessings. Live that way." (Jer. 6:16) Occasionally you may hear a different drummer, but don't ever lose sight of the bandleader.
Ask a few all-purpose questions: "Is the action that I am undertaking aligned with being godlike?" "What would God want me to do?" The Bible makes very explicit what God wants you to do: Don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder...(2 Pet. 1:5-6) Once you follow that line of inquiry, you will discover a singular, valid response. It will be easy to choose the action you must take, and the result will be better than you have expected; in fact, God will deliver infinitely beyond your highest desires and thoughts.
God says, "I have good plans for you." (Jer. 29:11) He has good plans for your marriage, raising children, communal life and friendship, work and enjoyment. He has very good plans for all your mundane activities and for everything else from your beginning to your end, in this world and thereafter. All you have to do is just stay on His well-beaten path.
T. Byram Karasu, M.D. is the author of The Spirit of Happiness
