09/09/2026
A man is stranded in the ocean. Not metaphorically, but truly stranded.
He finds a piece of wood that floats, then another, some rope, fabric, a couple of branches. Little by little, he builds a raft. This raft saves his life, keeping him afloat, giving him a place to sleep, and allowing him to move instead of just drifting. He repairs it, protects it, and improves it, because without it, he might die.
Then one morning, he sees land. He washes ashore, probably kisses the sand, thanks every god he can remember, and heads toward the jungle, dragging the raft behind him.
The trees are too close together, so he cuts one down and builds rollers. The raft gets caught on roots, so he invents a pulley. The jungle gets thicker, so he builds a harness.
Look at this guy! Resourceful, persistent, adaptable. Every new obstacle makes him better... at dragging a giant raft through the jungle.
RECORD SCRATCH.
Did you catch it? This is where we do something incredibly human. The raft worked so well it became part of his definition of survival. So when the environment changed, he didn't reconsider the raft; he reconsidered everything else.
“How do I modify the jungle? How do I get stronger? How do I make a better harness? How do I become the kind of person who can carry this thing forever?”
But the raft isn't bad. It saved his life. He can love that raft and be grateful for it. There might even be another river two miles away where a raft would be useful again. But right now, he's in a jungle.
There's an old Buddhist teaching about using a raft to cross a river. Once you've crossed, the point isn't to strap the raft to your back because it was sacred. The point was to cross.
And I wonder how often we do this in modern life:
* The coping mechanism that got you through a terrible year.
* The job you needed when you were broke.
* The personality you built to survive a particular house.
* The relationship role that once kept the peace.
* The routine that gave you structure.
* The belief that explained something when you desperately needed an explanation.
* The system you built because everything used to be chaos.
None of those things have to have been mistakes.
