The different types of spiritual paths can be divided up a lot of ways, but I think one of the most significant are those with a goal or result and those without.  Some paths promise some kind of reward for achieving something spiritually, either after death or in the form of enlightenment.  Some paths focus on some form of salvation or other reward for piety and devotion, giving the actions required by that path a purpose beyond the immediate.

Other paths offer something far more vague, and usually of the immediate reward variety.  Connection with the universe, community, a functional cosmology which enhances your experience in life.

And whether you end up on one kind of path or the other depends a lot, I think, on your relationship with the ideas of authority and empowerment.  Is it more important to you not to be spiritually micromanaged, or do you like being able to follow a set of rules to gain a promised reward?  Do you want to be a spiritual entrepreneur or a spiritual employee?

How many people end up feeling like spiritual failures or grow disillusioned with spirituality because the tradition they’ve been led to believe holds Absolute Truth is a poor fit with their actual spiritual needs?

I think too many people fail to see their own search for a spiritual home as evidence that there are many potential right answers and no Absolute Truth.