In recovery, I follow the beaten track. This is the track of the endless procession of now sober sots (to adapt a phrase of Bill Wilson's) who have taken the Steps as set out in the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The beaten track is the track of the beaten:
Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to AA, and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be. We stand ready to do anything which will lift the merciless obsession from us.
What does going off the beaten track mean? Such an approach is the approach of the unbeaten, who have to beat their way through implacable forest, machete in hand, to create a new path. Why not use the path that is already there?
Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the levelling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation.
'There must be another way' is a good motto when faced with failure but a bad motto when faced with the prospect of success at a price: it then becomes the motto of the young rich man who went away sad because he would not give up his possessions. The price was too high.
Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.