> But is that not also "following a path laid out by someone else?"

Not really. I'd use the analogy of breathing. Imagine you're convinced that you need to breathe properly, so you consciously obsess over each breath (congratulations: you are now breathing manually). Then someone comes along and says "you know, you can just breathe without thinking about doing it right."

Is letting go of that manual breathing and just breathing without thinking about it following a path laid out by someone else?