You think you are going in the right direction:
You get to a crossroads and there is no signpost. You are alone. There is nobody there to ask which way to go. You can see nothing ahead. No path. You have no idea what time it is. You are lost in every sense of the word.
There is a river one side of the road. You walk onto the riverbank and stare down into the water. How cold will the water be if you wade into it? Where will you end up? Will you survive?
There are long dark green reeds growing out of the water. The water seems clear.
After watching the surface sparkle for a while you notice that underneath there are dozens – hundreds – of tiddlers – small minnows swimming this way and that.
What if each little fish were an idea. A thought. A fragment of creation. Following its own path. As you watch, they dart through the ripples towards the darker patch of weeds where the bigger picture hides in plain sight. You cannot see the full picture from the bank.
The longer you watch the more fish you see. Some bigger, some tiny. Every single one is an inspiration. Thousands of ideas in this patch of water. They make different pictures depending on who is looking at them and at what time. Imagine how many ideas there must be in the whole river.
And then you realise that every drop of water is the whole river. Because as it flows it changes. If you enter the river to catch a fish, to follow an idea, no one can follow you because the place where you entered is never the same.
When you open your eyes and mind you can see that you are at the edge of the river. On the bank. And the water of life flows past you. You can choose if, where and when to enter the water and how to create your own unique life from the eternal ideas that surround you.