Path with Heart

Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep
in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not
follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have
such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you
know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to
oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart
tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave
it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path
closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.

This question is one that only a very old man asks. Does this
path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They
are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I
could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere.
Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it
doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a
heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as
you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse
your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path
have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you
must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question;
and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a
heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can
stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is
never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other
hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.

I have told you that to choose a path you must be free from
fear and ambition. The desire to learn is not ambition. It is our
lot as men to want to know.

The path without a heart will turn against men and destroy
them. It does not take much to die, and to seek death is to seek
nothing.

For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have a
heart, on any path that may have a heart. There I travel, and the
only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And
there I travel--looking, looking, breathlessly.

Carlos Castaneda
The Teachings of don Juan