Ida Lawrence, Contributor
Waking Times
“Every path comes with a price.” I read that statement somewhere and decided to write it down and think about it. Life is a journey, for everyone, and journeys are taken on paths. But the “every path comes with a price” statement sounds a bit intimidating or threatening. So, what ‘price’ are we talking about here?
When we grow up under the ‘eternal damnation if you do it wrong’ threat, we can get a little wary or even fearful of taking the wrong path. Let’s start out by eliminating the threatening feeling of the word ‘price’. If by price we mean effort, well of course… every single life requires effort. If the price we’re talking about is karma, that could be experienced as enjoyable or difficult.
If the price is pain, yes, it could be karma, something we invited or didn’t invite but it did happen, or the emotional pain we feel when life contradicts our opinion. Hopefully we can learn and turn things around by asking ‘why this pain’.
But I don’t think it’s pain or karma or effort that the statement refers to. I think it is this: you give up something to get something. When considering my own life, that does have the ring of truth. We need to be willing to give something up, and if you let your imagination loose as to what people give up in order to get something, it can make you shudder on one hand… or bow your head in gratitude on the other.
