When you don't have any ribbon power, all you can do is walk and climb up small ledges... you end up going so slowly that it just makes you give up on trying to go in any direction where there's no ribbon power to collect... The ribbons guide you on the linear path through the game.
Each... checkpoint? is like a mural printed on a wall of sand... when you light up all the monuments near it, the wall of sand opens up a tunnel... the mural is like some metaphoric religious journey or something...
Oh man... the more ribbons you set free, the more "floaty" the game feels... it starts becoming more and more of a flying game rather than a platformer... it's not about controlling the ribbons or leading them... trying to do that only gets you going the wrong way... the whole point is to follow along with the crowd of ribbons... trust that they won't lead you into danger...
But then... inside a dark mountain... you fall into the pit of darkness and despair... no ribbons in sight... but wait, I see a glimmer of light in the distance... that's the way to go! The statues lead the way... eventually I find a map on the wall, and the ribbons catch up to me and start brightening the place up and making the game more "floaty" again... There's so many ribbons here now, this sacred temple looking area is like a free-flying zone. I keep raising the level of the pool of ribbon magic, allowing me to keep flying higher and higher, and got to the next mural checkpoint...