The Golden Path: How to find and fulfill what you are meant to do

In a New York Press article from August of 2011, film producer and director Tommy Pallotta, said, “I am a fan of audience participation, but I also think audiences like to be told a story. There’s this thing video game designers call a ‘golden path’—there’s a definite way that the majority of people are going to experience the game, and the designers plot that. A lot of the interactivity in a video game is really just the illusion of interactivity. It’s about engaging the audience and giving at least the feeling of volition. But as the artist you have the sense that you are, in some way, controlling it, blending the craft of storytelling with the illusion of agency.” In other words, in a game you think you are controlling the action, but really it’s already been pre-programmed. Kind of like what we think of as destiny. In fact, maybe that’s exactly what destiny is: the path we are meant to take in order to have the most fulfilling experience.

Call it destiny, fate, or providence; the idea of “the golden path” is deeply rooted within our culture, consciousness, and subconsciousness. For most of us, the metaphor was implanted in our minds during The Wizard of Oz. We watch as Dorothy is told by a fairy godmother of sorts to follow the yellow brick road. On that road, she meets a cast of characters who help her on her journey. Sometimes, the road splits, sometimes she strays from it—often meeting with dire consequences, and sometimes, the road seems to go in circles. But in the end, that path leads Dorothy on a journey that allows her to grow so that she can handle the challenges of life, and go home. Of course, Dorothy later finds out she could’ve gone home all along, but on some level we understand that the point of her adventure was the journey, not the destination.

Similar to The Wizard of Oz, it often feels like we are on our own golden path. When we’re on it, we meet the people and encounter the events that help us to achieve our objectives. When we wander from the path or lose our way, we struggle, until we either find it again or are pushed there—often against our conscious will. Whether this golden path concept is a metaphor for how life really works or a literal example of our reality actually being some kind of video game, is not as important as understanding that the path, does in fact, exist.

In The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers asks writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell if he ever had a sense as though he were being helped by “hidden hands.” Campbell said he felt this way all the time and that, “if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.”

Unfortunately, due to the challenges of life, this isn’t always easy. In fact, it’s almost never easy. But how fun would a game be if it were? Satisfaction from anything is nearly always directly proportional to how much of a challenge it was to complete. In addition to the challenges that are on our path, unlike Dorothy, we have the additional challenge of not being able to see whether we are actually on it or not. The key is to focus on the goal. Put all your mind, heart, and soul into whatever it is you want to do and the path will form under your feet. This doesn’t mean that everything will flow smoothly once you’re on it. We often need to grow in order to get to where we want to go, and just like a muscle or coal that is crushed into a diamond, it takes stress to grow.

Focusing on the goal not only helps you to create a path to take you there, it also helps you to ride the daily ups and downs of life without being carried away with them. As Rabbi Simon Jacobson wrote in his article, “The Story Behind The Story”, “You and I do not know the script of our lives. Sometimes what appears as bad news for the moment (or more than a moment) can turn into the greatest blessing. And sometimes it’s the other way around.” While we do not know the script for our lives, I believe that in the version that’s meant to air, it concludes with us achieving our wildest dreams. Just like the programming of a video game, our destiny is written with a path for success. I don’t think it’s anyone’s destiny to fail miserably. That’s not to say that everyone’s life is meant for a happy ending, but that everyone’s life is meant for a fulfilling conclusion. It is the design of our destiny for us to succeed! Much like the audience of a movie or the player of a video game character, God, the universe, fate, or whatever you want to call it WANTS you to win! Believing that is your first step towards making it a reality.

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