Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Less Traveled” is about the choice you face when you first learn the truth of life. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” There are two paths you can walk in this life: The path of the majority and the path of the truthseeker. “And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.” This part is referring to the time when you first learn and understand the truth. You will want to walk both the path of the majority and the path of truth. You will want to “fit in” with society and be “normal” and also learn and spread the truth. For a while it will seem like you can do both, but it is just an illusion that your mind creates. The reason you can’t do both is quite simple: The path of the majority is the path of illusions, deceptions, lies, and myths; the path of the truth seeker is the path of the real, fundamental truth of life. You cannot walk on both paths because those paths are opposites. Truth and illusion are opposites. To walk on one is to forsake the other. You will start to realize that you have to choose one of the paths. If you choose to walk the path of the majority, you will have the comfort and pleasure of feeling like you fit in with society. You will be “normal”, and live a “normal” life the way society expects you to. However, by choosing the path of the majority you will never fully know and understand the truth of life. You may learn part of it, but you will never learn all of it. Why? It is because you cannot fully learn and understand the real truth of life if you remain on the path of the majority, simply because the path of the majority is the path of illusion. “Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear, though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same.” The second path in the poem is the path of the truthseeker. If you choose to walk this path you will do so alone. Other truthseekers can help keep you on the path and help inspire and expand your understanding of the truth, but they cannot walk the path for you. You have to stand alone in the truth. Only you can change yourself. The poem is also saying that the two paths will appear equal to you, but the path of truth may appear more appealing to you because subconsciously you know that it is the path to be on. It is not popular, but those that consistently stay on the path and seek the truth will eventually find it. Learning and understanding the truth of life is your ultimate purpose, whether you are conscious of it or not. Nothing is more meaningful, or eventually more fulfilling than finding and understanding the real truth. “And that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing as how way leads to way I doubted if I should ever come back.” This part of the poem is once again saying how when you first learn the truth the two paths will appear equal to you. There is one great difference between them though. The path of the majority will never fundamentally change your life. It cannot change the very nature of your mind or bring you lasting fulfillment because an illusion or deception can never actually change anything on a fundamental level. An illusion or deception cannot change your mind. On the other hand, the path of truth (the road less traveled) can change you because the knowledge and understanding of real truths will physically change the nature of your mind. The other thing the poem indicates here is that once you have chosen your path there is a point of no return. If you choose the path of truth and commit to it for enough time you will not turn back from it. It will have become part of you and it will never leave you. You will have started to live in the truth. “I shall be telling this with a sigh. Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” The last part of the poem has two meanings: The first is a warning. It indicates that you will regret not choosing the path of truth when you had the chance. Not choosing to walk the path once you know and understand the truth is the biggest mistake you can possibly make because it is an opportunity you will not get again in this life. Once you turn too far from the path of truth then you will never be able to fully know the real truth. The second part is saying that choosing the path of truth will make all of the difference in your life. Learning and understanding the ultimate truth is the one thing in this world that can make a lasting difference in your life. It is the one thing the can fundamentally change you, society, and the world.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 21:18:52 +0000
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