I might say we all wonder through the woods in our own way. We cross the endless eddies and currents of the sea in our own way. A path is an evolving thing. You can feel it being created, but you are not exactly the one doing it. That is why, while you have influence, it is more like it is being made for you.
It seems to me that the universe is an endless concatenation of Rube Goldberg devices, where many critical junctures are Schroedinger’s Cat sorts of indeterminacies, that only come into being once a decision is made.
And it seems to me that the path of wisdom, and the fundamental method for dealing with and embracing change, which is our main task in this life, is treating this universe as interesting. How UNEXPECTED. I did not see that coming. Well, this is interesting. Where is the opportunity? How can I surf this wave and enjoy it?
People who need you to do what they are doing have not, at root, found their OWN path. They have not connected experientially with the ebbs and flows of life, and learned to interact with them in creative ways. The compulsion to push others should likely, at the end of the day, be seen as a covert method of pushing oneself into something you don’t want either. It is a way of pushing away fear.
I find myself speculating on this with difficulty, because I have never felt, as far as I can recall, any need to force my views on anyone else. I persuade continually–indeed I argued continually about everything for many years, and still do sometimes–but I certainly don’t want to be copied.