Paths

Visitors to Bright Leaf often ask - where did the paths come from?  Who made them?  Which came first - animal paths or people paths?

My father builds labyrinths.  When he gives workshops, he has participants draw lines on a piece of paper to create their own labyrinth.  He gives fairly detailed instructions about which line to draw first, where to start your second line, and which direction to draw it in, etc.  We studiously try to draw the lines the way he says.

Then he says "The lines are not important.  The space between them - the path - is where the woo-woo is."  The labyrinth is the path, not the lines.



At Bright Leaf, there's almost certainly a mixture of animal-first and people-first paths.  Most every creature naturally takes the path of least resistance whenever they can.  So it's to be expected that, if people come to a land where animals have already created a path to the creek to drink water at dusk every night, or to catch crayfish in a reliable pool every night, that people will take the path of least resistance to the creek to drink- the animal path that's already there.

Vice versa, if people come to a land they simply want to cross to get to another land, they'll forge a new path through to the other land.  And this path may or may not be of interest and utility to other creatures.  At Bright Leaf, many of the paths that follow level ground for a ways appear to be used by coyotes a lot, since we find their scat and foot prints on the paths very often.  Who's to say if this was a people-first or coyote-first path?

But we find deer scat and tracks on the path very rarely.  Instead, we see deer forging their own paths directly up and down hill, which often cut across the level paths at right angles.  That makes some sense, since, as a prey animal of both coyotes and people, you probably want to cross paths (quite literally) as little as possible.  (Please keep in mind I'm not a trained biologist, and I'm taking a path towards metaphor here.)

There are so many paths in our world that we can't see, or rarely catch our attention:  squirrel paths in the trees, migratory birth paths through the air, ant paths made of scent, "snuffler" paths (my word for raccoons, skunks, opossums and armadillos here in my yard), vultures following paths of uplifting warm air currents, rats and mice following paths in our homes and walls (not to mention teenager paths, which are never forged to the washer and dryer, but are well-worn to the fridge).  Next time you're in a natural area, let your gaze find another creature's path.

And what about your own path?  Is it visible to you?  Let it catch your attention today.  When do you take the path of least resistance and share a path forged by someone else?  Where are you forging your own path, to better serve you - to be of interest and utility to you?  Pay homage to the space between the lines.