The trees live in utter honesty
Even if a few wish sometimes
That they could lie or keep a secret.
They are too much a part of the whole interconnected woven existence to do otherwise.

\”I find out what I really want by seeing what I do,\” said Ender. \”That\’s what we all do, if we\’re honest about it. We have our feelings, we make our decisions, but in the end we look back on our lives and see…

The Ouroboros, Ourorboros, Oroborus, Uroboros or Uroborus (jʊərəʊˈbɒrəs) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. It has been used to represent many things over the ages, but it most generally symbolizes ideas of social cycle theory, unity, or infinity. The ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations (transmutation of base matter into gold).
Lucas Jennis’ engraving published on an alchemical emblem-book entitled De Lapide Philisophico (1625)

The name ouroboros (or, in Latinized form, uroborus) is Greek ουροβóρος, \”tail-devourer\”. The depiction of the serpent is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way, as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens…

In some representations the serpent is shown as half light and half dark, echoing symbols such as the Yin Yang, which illustrates the dual nature of all things, but more importantly, that these opposites are not in conflict. In alchemy, the ouroboros symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist\’s Great Work, which unites the opposites: the conscious and unconscious mind.

The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (See Phoenix (mythology)). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego \”dawn state\”, depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.

The Ouroboros could very well be used to symbolize the closed-system model of the universe of some physicists. The organic chemist August Kekule claimed that a ring in the shape of Ouroboros that he saw in a dream inspired him in his discovery of the structure of benzene. As noted by Carl Jung, this might be an instance of cryptomnesia…

The Ouroboros is one of the oldest mystical symbols in the world. The serpent or dragon appears in Aztec, Middle East, and Native American mythologies, among others. –Wikipedia

Anything is one of a million paths [un camino entre cantidades de caminos].
Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path;
if you feel you should not follow it,
you must not stay with it under any conditions.
To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life.
Only then will you know that any path is only a path,
and there is no affront, to oneself or to others,
in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do.
But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it
must be free of fear or ambition.
I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately.
Try it as many times as you think necessary.
This question is one that only a very old man asks.
My benefactor told me about it once when I was young,
and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it.
Now I do understand it.
I will tell you what it is:
Does this path have a heart?
All paths are the same: they lead nowhere.
They are paths going through the bush or into the bush.
In my own life I could say that I have traversed long, long paths,
but I am not anywhere.
My benefactor\’s question has meaning now.
Does this path have a heart?
If it does, the path is good; if it doesn\’t, it is of no use.
Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart and the other doesn\’t.
One makes for a joyful journey;
as long as you follow it you are one with it.
The other will make you curse your life.
One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

“When a man starts to learn, he is never clear about his objectives. His purpose is faulty; his intent is vague. He hopes for rewards that will never materialize for he knows nothing of the hardships of learning.

He slowly begins to learn–bit by bit at first, then in big chunks. And his thoughts soon clash. What he learns is never what he pictured, or imagined, and so he begins to be afraid. Learning is never what one expects. Every step of learning is a new task, and the fear the man is experiencing begins to mount mercilessly, unyieldingly. His purpose becomes a battlefield. And thus he has stumbled upon the first of his natural enemies: Fear! A terrible enemy–treacherous, and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way, prowling, waiting. And if the man, terrified in its presence, runs away, his enemy would have put an end to his quest.

…He must not run away. He must defy his fear, and in spite of it he must take the next step in learning, and the next, and the next. He must be fully afraid, and yet he must not stop. That is the rule! And a moment will come when his first enemy retreats. The man begins to feel sure of himself. His intent becomes stronger. Learning is no longer a terrifying task.

When this joyful moment comes, the man can say without hesitation that he has defeated his first natural enemy.”

-The Teachings of Don Juan