Travelling a road or a path

[M. T. Cross]

Quote:

The difference between a path and a road is not only the obvious one. A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. It is a sort of ritual familiarity. As a form, it is a form of contact with a known landscape. It is not destructive. It is the perfect adaptation, through experience and familiarity, of movement to place; it obeys the natural contours; such obstacles as it meets it goes around. A road, on the other hand, even the most primitive road, embodies a resistance against the landscape. Its reason is not simply the necessity for movement, but haste. Its wish is to avoid contact with the landscape; it seeks so far as possible to go over the country, rather than through it; its aspiration, as we see clearly in the example of our modern freeways, is to be a bridge; its tendency is to translate place into space in order to traverse it with the least effort. It is destructive, seeking to remove or destroy all obstacles in its way.

(Wendell Berry, "A Native Hill")

Are you on a road or a path?

[CoAspen]

Hmmmmm........interesting thought with some very interesting possibilities.

Lets see where this road/path takes us.......

[JoeMo]

Interesting question, MT. By your definition of a path, I infer that that it is traveling on the way of least resistance; making as little impact on the environment as possible. Taking the allegory to a philosophical or spiritual plane, I don't know if it is necessarily the optimal way to travel. It seems like you have had to burst through some barriers in your life; and had some rough uphill climbs - wreaking havoc on some "environments". I know I have.

Using a philosophical or spiritual allegory of a road, I would describe my own journey as more of a road than a path, albeit a country road rather than a freeway - or maybe a road less travelled. It has been and continues to be an uphill journey, through barriers of legalism, closed-mindedness, and denominationalism, through barriers of deceit and family/peer pressure. I don't know if I would call it "destructive"; but I would call it "intrusive". It hasn't been a freeway - that's for sure. It's had way too many curves, detours and stop signs.

I don't know if I'm on the same track as you intended; if not, please disregard this post.

JoeMo

[M. T. Cross]

If you are building the road Joe, then I can see what you mean. But from my conversations with you I would really see it more as a path. I think what is meant there is that if you are on a road you are on something that is already in place, something that has a lot of disconnect from its surroundings, something where the destination is key but the journey is humdrum and just a necessity to get to the destination.

A path is something where the journey and the surroundings of the path are the thing that makes the destination worth getting too.

That was my take on the whole thing.

[JoeMo]

Good point, MT. I've definitely been blazing my own trail - but you understand that. You have, too.

[Gibs]

I will say according to the definition given between road and path I've chosen the path of following Jesus Christ only and of which He says few will find. It is not well travelled by the world and so is not worn in very much. It is not wide but narrow too so that also defines it not the broad highway of the world.

Also it is not a going "with the flo" of which is turning into a flood.

He does lead beside still waters and a great peace is found as we who follow this great Shepherd know He will keep us through all that may come up.

All are invited to come along.

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.