The Golden Path

The Golden Path

The Golden Path, what is it?  Some of the ideas about this include, but are not limited to, the idea of The Golden Path being:

• The path to success
• The proper route to follow
• An unlimited power of intuition used to master life
• A metaphysical theme for success

Although similar, in some ways, these ideas are not exactly the same.  The Path to Success, for example, is not always The Proper Route to Follow for we can often achieve a goal by the use of alternate paths.  Also “an unlimited power of intuition used to master life” is not the same as a path or route to success for one can achieve goals with-out utilizing the power of intuition. .

In short people take the basic meaning of the term “The Golden Path” and they define it in ways they understand… or want it to mean.  Prior to going on, let’s check out Frank Herbert’s Golden Path.

Frank Herbert, Dune and the Golden Path

“And he saw the vision of armor. The armor was not his own skin: it was stronger than plasteel. Nothing penetrated his armor — not knife or poison or sand, not the dust of the desert or its desiccating heat. In his right hand he carried the power to make the Coriolis storm, to shake the earth and erode it into nothing. His eyes were fixed upon the Golden Path and in his left hand he carried the scepter of absolute mastery. And beyond the Golden Path, his eyes looked into eternity which he knew to be the food of his soul and of his everlasting flesh.”

~ Heighia, My Brother’s Dream from the Book of Ghanima – Dune

According to Wikipedia, The Golden Path was “an expansive prescient interpretation that was only visible to the Kwizatz Haderach, a term within the Dune universe used primarily by the Bene Gesserit. which translated as literally meaning “Shortening of the Way”.  It foretold the fluid events of the future, both great and small. More profoundly, however, it revealed an optimum path through the countless threads of cause and effect that were encountered by the human race.”  Now what does this mean?

Well, what this tells me is that the Golden Path was “A vision of the future, large in scope or content, which was only visible to a select group of people”   The Golden Path dealt with powers of the mind and/or spirit, along with the ability to make the choices to make these visions either a reality or to avoid them entirely.  I will agree that my translation of The Golden Path begins to swerve from that of Mr. Herbert’s, but to this point I think I am still close enough to proceed with what The Golden Path came to mean in the world outside of that created by Frank Herbert and his son.

Our Golden Path

The Golden Path is basically a path to enlightenment.  Frank Herbert utilized the metaphysical and Buddhist philosophies for his story and he wove some of those ideas into a fairly well written story.  People became so enamored with the idea of a Golden Path that they adopted the term to fit in with their own ideas and ways of wording things.

The fact is that there is just not one Golden Path, or route to enlightenment, for everyone.  All Golden Paths may have similar aspects, but since each of us is different in some way… our paths will vary to a greater or lesser degree.  Two elements have to exist for a person to be on their Golden Path.

The first element is that The Golden Path must include aspects of “enlightenment“.

According to Emanuel Kant, “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another.”

The Golden Path and Success

The Golden Path and Success are not one in the same.  The Golden Path, when keeping to Herbert’s ideas set forth in Dune, basically follows a path to enlightenment to a successful outcome which was for the benefit of mankind, whereas Success is “a personal  achievement which is desired, planned, and/or attempted“.  You can be a success in life with-out the spiritual or zen-like qualities, there have been many successful people in history who’s only desire was for the self and it didn’t matter who was hurt or killed in the process of their achieving success.

In Frank Herbert’s Dune, the Golden Path did not exclude great power or wealth from the heroes of the story, in lieu of performing a greater good for humanity.  In fact the materialistic and spiritual went hand-in-hand.  Paul and his son both achieved greatness for themselves, while the entire human race benefited from their actions.

The Golden Path is not always “the easy route to follow“ either. If you read Dune you will find that the heroes took some pretty hard roads in their attempts to succeed, even though we might have wondered why do things that way – another way may have been easier.  The fact is that people can take easier paths in life to success and they probably can achieve some semblance of  successful conclusion to the visions of their future they have had… but quite often short-cuts change things.

So to be on the Golden Path takes involves more than the self and our personal success, it also incorporates the effects our decisions have on others.  We can achieve personal success through the Golden Path, but following the Golden Path also involves some benefit for the masses.

The Golden Path, Social Marketing and Social Media Marketing

Remember, the basic definition of The Golden Path is the road to enlightenment, which may bring one success in obtaining their goals.  The Golden Path often involves a humanitarian aspect where success is only achieved when the person helps others.  There really is no rule saying that all a person does, who is on The Golden path, has to be for the betterment of mankind.  You can achieve great personal success while making things better for all.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

I know I am repeating myself in this blog, but the message must be made clear that the Golden Path is just not a path to our personal success or failure.  A person on the Golden Path may reap no benefits for themselves, Buddha, for example, did not gain wealth and power because of his Golden Path.

The Golden Path, where social marketing and social media marketing are concerned, involves a way for the entire community to benefit… it’s not all about selling my product or service or idea and making millions.  This Golden Path may involve my coming up with something which helps others in the long run, and the fact of whether I personally benefit in the materialistic sense or not is a separate issue entirely.

Someone on the Golden Path, where it concerns SM and SMM, may have opened up a group like “Love it or hate it” or “Social Marketing Central”, they may have developed a place like “Email Delivery Jedi” or they might post blogs aimed at helping others who are interested in social marketing.  The fruits of their labors may be the reward they get for when giving people something back with out the expectation of being paid for the service – one achieves a spiritual or karmic quality that those expecting to be rewarded do not often get.  The helping of others also might be a way for a person to achieve materialistic rewards. People sometimes respond well to being helped and the effect of “What comes around, goes around” comes into play.

Summary

To an extent I believe “The Golden Path” is real, it’s as real as the air we breath and the things we can see and touch.  To judge whether a person has traveled the Golden Path is extremely difficult, especially if we personally do not know the person and have first-hand knowledge of all the person has done in their lives.

Bill Gates, for example, is an extremely wealthy man and with that wealth comes a certain amount of power. There is no doubt that Bill achieved success in his life, only a fool would try to deny that Microsoft and the accumulation of his own personal wealth is anything but success… but has he followed the Golden Path or has he simply followed a path to success is anyone’s guess.  We can gain insight by what greater good he has done with his wealth or the products he put out, but you don’t find a lot on the media concerning how much money or materials he donated for those in need.

Mother Theresa, however, obviously traveled the Golden Path in her life because of the good she has done in her life with-out concern over her own personal being.

A third example I give is Andrew Carnegie.  Despite what some say about him, the benefits of Andrew’s labors in life extended far beyond his lifetime and are still felt today by many. Andrew obviously traveled the Golden Path and it brought him wealth, power and fame — but it also helped many others who were less fortunate than he.

In closing, the Golden Path and personal success are not mutually exclusive, but just because someone is successful does not mean they traveled the Golden Path.  There is much more to it than the acquisition of personal wealth or power.