Staying on the wrong path
The new Ghost album, Skeletá, is pretty good, even if it's not my favorite of theirs. Meliora may be at the top, and I definitely think it's their most even and refined. The lyrics on Skeletá can occasionally be cringey, not unlike Impera, but like all Ghost albums, there are some hits, and they're not all singles.
The rock ballad Guiding Lights may be my favorite song on the new album. It sounds like something that belongs on a film's soundtrack. It also contains what I consider to be genuinely useful insight. I'm a bit embarrassed to quote Ghost on philosophical matters, but as Seneca said, “I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.” (Not that Tobias is a bad author. He's just not who most people think of when they think of philosophy.)
Anyway, the line is:
The road to nowhere is long.
In other words, if you find yourself stuck, you may be on the wrong path, and continuing down it may never prove that to you. In fact, the belief that the reward is “just a little ways ahead” is a pretty good indication that you'll never reach it, especially if you've found yourself believing that more than once. Although it can be painful, in circumstances like these, you would be better off turning around and trying something else. You might even find that another approach gets you to your destination much faster than anticipated.