I will liken the Universal Path and the Way as to a garden and gardener. The gardener in the field grows food as the means to supply nutrition to the body. The concern is that the food be available to satisfy the needs and desires of the physical. The Gardener in the Way of the Universal provides for the nutrition of the soul. It is here that he conveys the food of eternal life.
The gardener in concerned about the result of nutrition to the body. This leads to concern over the methods used to grow it, and the seeds and plants, and types of tools, fertilizers, and ground - among many other considerations. But it is not for the tools, the ground, the fertilizer, or the plants that the gardener plies his trade or work. It is for the purpose of bringing forth food - which then can be used to satisfy the functions of the needs of the body.
So too does the Gardener of the Spirit follow and pay attention to the needs of the Garden in order to feed the soul - and to assist it to approach the Garden of Delight from which it comes, and to which and in which it resides. The Gardener of the Spirit is not so concerned as to the method of production for reaching that level, that Garden, than he is in providing and making the nutrition available so the recipient can grow toward itself naturally.
The gardener in earth will adapt his or her methods to the elements, the growing season, the type of ground, the sunshine, rain, fertilizer, space, and time. It would be foolish to plant a seed that needs long days to grow in a climate or land of a short growing season.
So too does the Gardener of the Spirit attune to the needs of the soul and the means available to bring it forward; or assist it in its journey to the Greater Garden from which it comes. And if the soul, like the person, is in need of the soil or earth at one time, and then the rain or sun, then the Gardener adapts what is the situation or circumstances - the field - to those needs. This is done in attending to the true needs, not the desires, of the growing one. It is not so much providing the same nutrition or fertilizer in the same way to all beings; just as the gardener varies the amount or type of nutrients for the plant, the ground, and the needs.
The gardener in the earth may find one or more methods of supplying the means to grow a plant. He may, through tendency or interest or attraction or circumstances be drawn to plant in heavy clay or loam or sand or water; to use a raised bed or hydroponics. He may find that he is drawn to organic planting or that he uses chemical fertilizer, but is all cases he is primarily interested in the food, not the method or tools. Yet he may find that in order to produce the food one method or approach works better or is more suited to the situation than another.
This then reflects the methods and ways, or paths, of the Gardener of the Spirit. He may find that one method works better or is more suited to the locale or people than another. One can also liken the different paths or processes or religions as limitations fitted to those various needs. It is still the nutrition of the soul that one seeks, not the method or approach.
The problem - the limitation - and much of the cause of discord that comes between gardeners or proponents of one type of growing over another, is a result of the "gardener" clinging to one approach or means to the exclusion of the others, and considering it to be the only or better way. It may work in one situation but not in others.
So the Spiritual Gardener look toward the results not the means. Otherwise he becomes confused, isolated, and limited when he considers the method or approach as being more important than the end result. So we have differentiation and conflict as to which way is the best or "real" one. For the True Provider of food they are all tools to be used to reach the nutrition of the soul or the body. That is the prime result sought.
So the gardener who puts the means above the end separates himself from other gardeners and builds himself up over the other; whereas the one who remembers the need for and function of food embraces all other food producers as equal to the task of providing for the needs.
So too does the Spiritual Gardener remember the needs of the soul and its nutrition is the goal; and that another Gardener may try a varied or different approach - that is all; but if he provides that nutrient is accepted as equal to the task and being. The Gardener is the one who gardens, not the one who puts himself in the promotion of the process or means.
The complete gardener knows the food and the means to get it produced, and uses the seed, plant, and methods that work best for the specific situation; and thus is greater than the one who is limited to one means. But the gardener is not always accepted as the food provider, for from the point of view of the one attached to the method he is not of "them" and thus not doing it "right".
The true Gardener is the food grower and bringer and knows the tools and ways and means and may therefore utilize any of the methods as appropriate. He is Of the Garden - and as such is of all the methods or ways and they of him - for they are all the ways of food production. And while this is seen and known, understood and accepted by all those others of the many methods who do not cling to their way and have also become a food giver, that is not always the case for those others with a more limited view.
The Gardener, the True Gardener, may then, for the purposes of reminding others of the paths and their True goal, become a member of their "garden club" and with a larger perspective and knowing and awareness, assist them to reach the true goal of their own method and to reach toward the Universal Garden of Love, Harmony, Beauty, and Being. One Garden, One Way, Many paths. One Being, Many bodies.