Wednesday, May 5: practical awakening
“If you pick the wrong path, just backtrack and try a new one.”
You can’t really backtrack, can you? Sidetrack, perhaps. Diverge. Bifurcate. I guess if this is a literal idea, it’s true. I am going for a run today. I like to vary my path each day so I don’t get too bored with doing the same thing in the same way—it’s supposed to be good for the brain. If I turn down a street that, halfway through, I find blocked or bumpy, I can just turn around: Melvina’s no good—I’m heading back to Sunnyside and will turn again at Merrimac. But as a metaphor, “just backtrack” seems less…practical.
If I backtrack to correct a wrong path, doesn’t that also backtrack related right paths? In the literal, running, sense, even if I turn around mid-run, I’m still making progress toward my goal. Even though I was diverted at Melvina, the steps, miles, and time it took to get there (and turn around) count. But if I try to backtrack a metaphorical path, a decision made about a job or a marriage or school, I have to let go of everything associated with that path, right? If I notice that my job kind of sucks, I can’t just walk back the bad stuff—I have to give it all back—the good friends I found at said sucky job, the useful knowledge I gained, the practical cash I made.
There is no “wrong path.” Just like there is no “backtrack” and, as Yoda reminded us yesterday, there is no “try.” There is only the path. And it’s the one you are on.
