This path was marked by sweet scented flowers and followed a dancing brook, and it brought him contentment and peaceful travel for a time, but eventually, it too, seemed to wind away from his intended direction. So the traveler walked alone, often making his own way. Pathless, and yet mindful of what he had learned of the terrain from each of the paths he had encountered, he discovered that in this fashion he was now able to make much progress. And one day, the traveler finally reached the end of the woods and The Center of All Things. To his amazement, each of the paths he had seen eventually did lead here, but because he had chosen to mindfully create his own way, he had reached his destination much more quickly.
Belief systems are like stepping stones over the quicksand of ignorance and amnesia.
Each may be useful, but if you stand too long upon one, it will sink into the quicksand and you may become trapped. So the wise course is to skip over each stone, appreciate its usefulness and beauty, and find your way over the quicksand without getting mired in it. This is referred to as walking the Royal Road - which is pathless. Although honoring and learning from others who inspire you can often be quite helpful, in the final analysis we must each look within for truth. No matter what the ritual or practice, we cannot reach higher consciousness by playing follow the leader.