To join a path you need to have at least 15 meditating skill. However, even if you start a path at 15 meditating skill the meditating limitation of one meditation per 30 minutes for skill does not apply until you reach 20 skill.
Once you are on the path, a title will appear next to your name.<!-- , similar to the [[champion player|champion]] title. --> Each step of the path brings a new title. At each step, you must wait for an increasing amount of time before you can advance to the next step on the path. Times between steps are shown in the section on Titles below. You can only follow 1 path.
The message you get to start each path seems to take the following form: "As you meditate upon these things you realize that there is a pattern of thinking that you can try to follow. If this path contains the truth or simply the figment of someone's imagination, you do not know. Nonetheless, it may pose an interesting challenge. Do you wish to embark on the philosophical journey of the path of X? If you answer yes, you will be challenged by the selected path as you visit more places like this one and meditate.". Answering yes will make you an adherent of that particular path, with the title of Uninitiated.