Now what?

Carl stood and looked. Behind him, a vast, empty wasteland, a bog really, in which nothing lived besides the algae and moss. But ahead of him lay what appeared to be a wild, untamed jungle, teeming with life, yet apparently chaotic. He took a deep breath and stepped in. The impact of the heat was breathtaking, but not nearly as breathtaking as the beauty of the wild that lay before his eyes. But not only that, every sense was overwhelmed with input. The rainbow of colors, the vast area of smells, the crunch of eons of decaying flora and fauna beneath his feet and he could nearly taste the air around him. And Carl started walking.
His initial response was awe. Every bush, every insect demanded his full attention, such that his progress, while great in content, was minimal in distance. Eventually Carl learned to observe and absorb in shorter time, allowing him to cover more ground. Eventually Carl discovered a path, fairly new, at least by his estimation. Small notes and comments left by those who had gone before, claimed antiquity but a slight nagging left Carl somewhat suspicious. But he continued onward.
Small paths deviated to the left and right of the path upon which Carl trod, but Carl rejected the temptation to deviate. Then one day it happened. Carl had been examining a rock formation slightly off his path, yet easily within sight. He has stopped off the path, yet keeping it in sight. And then he saw it. Another path, which observed from atop the rock formation upon which Carl stood, could be easily seen. Carl could see it often times paralleling his own path but other times greatly deviating. He stood for a long time examining both paths. They were very similar, yet this just discovered path was clearly far older. From his rocky perch, Carl could see the many smooth stones which made up the path. They glistened in the sunlight, revealing a long history of many feet polishing them smooth. Carl had to make a decision. Looking up and down both paths, he could see where his original path had brought him, a circular pattern of articulate designs, through deep valleys, up and down massive tree, thick with vines. Carl's many scars, blisters and slivers gave proof of his journey.
Looking back over the other path, with it's occasional parallel journey, Carl saw a very different pattern. The other path was always straight. Yes, there were just as many small paths deviating from this one as well, but all of them seemed to disappear after deviating. And this path climbed no trees. It followed no circularity. But what it did do was cover ground, a lot of ground, some of it straight over rocky hills. Some of it through swamps, thick with mosquitos. But it was always straight.
Carl spent many days looking at these paths and suddenly one day, he decided, he needed to change course. So he descended his rocky vantage point, stumbled through a patch of poison ivy, over a barbed wire fence and through multiple large spider webs, but he found the new, old path. In one sense, the large smooth stones were much easier to traverse and the path was always clear but in many other ways, the path was much more difficult. Carl often, as had been his practice, stopped to observe and learn of those things along the path. His strong calloused hands exploring and grasping as he learned. But Carl eventually learned a new mantra, "don't focus on the path, focus on the goal."
The thing that Carl noticed that was so different from this former path was the benches. This new path had, every few miles, benches upon which to sit and rest and there were always cool refreshing drinks on a small table to the side. Here he would find brief notes, left by previous travelers, offering advice and warnings. Carl typically found them to be quite helpful. It took him some time to comprehend them, some of them being quite enigmatic. He found too that most of the knowledge he has acquired in his former path was very much unlike the small notes left by others. Most of his was interesting, intriguing and complex, while theirs, much simpler and practical.
Carl began leaving notes of his own, as he took his occasional rest. Eventually, Carl began only writing one question, for he found himself knowing and understanding less and less as time progressed.
He simply wrote, "Now what?"