If we assume that we are all heading down a particular path, moving forward feels like the only suitable option. Although sometimes making progress includes choosing another way altogether.
As the writer and theologian C.S. Lewis tells us,
Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case, the person who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
Are you on the right path? It is difficult (and humbling) to accept the need to turn around or change your course. How do you know if you are on the right path?
One sign could be the feeling that it has no end.
To quote Winston Churchill, “Every day you make progress. Yet stretched before you are an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.” You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this is far from discouraging; it only adds to the joy and glory of the path.
Similarly, the philosopher and monk Dogen described progress through the infinite path of studying ourselves.
Dogen wrote,
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.
When we see progress, it reveals itself as an infinite path.
Ultimately, there is no destination to reach; as this ancient proverb states — “Beyond mountains, there are more mountains.”
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,