Each of us is on our own peculiar journey walking at our own pace, in our way, and for our own purposes. We may even wander for a while to create and play on several potential paths depending upon our personal circumstances and the political schemas that shape our lives. Sometimes we come to roadblocks and need to re-evaluate the direction of our lives, simplify and let go to flow into new uncharted territory. This requires flexibility, as flow follows the path in a spiral of least resistance revealing higher pathways. While the Higher Paths are not mutually exclusive, they follow a pattern. Thus, it is wise to understand the characteristics and utility of each path even though we needn’t remain on any particular one for a lifetime.

The first step on any path is a defining moment in our lives as it offers a critical source of energy that motivates and informs us. It is a flowing feeling of raw determination that calls us to action. We feel its presence in the witness of suffering, abuse, or blatant rights violations. Our senses overload, perhaps with the sight of poverty, the smell of sewage, the sound of pain and anger, and the touch of loneliness. Our hearts feel full from relentless and pervasive suffering and we take flight through a shifting of paradigm.

We have taken the first step and are motivated beyond the known onto the formless Path of Spirit. This realm is beyond the Matrix as it reflects a sense of some greater power--the all embracing love of a higher truth. The path of Spirit is the culmination, combination, and creation of all other paths, inspiring service, ethics of goodness, generating love, and motivating passion, all of which have been abused beyond recognition as an assertion of righteousness, control, manipulation and selfishness. For those of us who follow this path with care and discriminating wisdom, we find that it is an exquisite teacher of devotion and surrender.

We may feel so in-spirited to take the Path of Service that we commit and direct our focus with dedicated and generous action towards the welfare of others. The highest aspirations of advocacy are rooted in this path, since the very purpose of advocacy is achieving the goals and protecting the rights of those on whose behalf we advocate. This extraordinarily fulfilling pursuit is commonly walked by many in our community in their selfless desire to assist others. The appreciation of our own situation in contrast to someone else's challenging circumstances, low self-worth or the inability to take care of them selves can similarly propel us onto this path. However, it can, like any path, be corrupted by alternative purposes, such as self-aggrandizement or a psychological need for recognition and affirmation.

The emotional roots, relational context, and out-pouring of affection to others often expressed as passion is about unremitting love that is the ideal along the Path of Heart. The inspiration for this path is not about ideas or strategic objectives, or winning or losing, but of connection and inter-relatedness. Through contrast it shows us how we are all connected--that what divides us from one another are disabilities or circumstances, not any deep truth or difference. At the deepest level we are all quite similar with circumstances that create the illusion of difference. The recognition of circumstance and sameness is at the core of this path, which provides the grist for a true expression of the heart.