I often get asked 'Why build a labyrinth?',so thought I would organise a few of my thoughts plus information I have found elsewhere here.
The biggest discovery I have made personally since working with labyrinths is the power of walking on curving pathways as opposed to straight ones. The modern world is fixated on going the straightest and shortest way - and missing the joys of the journey in the rush to reach a goal. A curving pathway slows one down, lets you look at your surroundings from many different directions - and to see things in many different ways- and is a reminder that when we give up the need to control where we go, we find a richer and more meaningful journey. In a labyrinth the pathway often almost reaches the goal, then turns away in a completely different direction - reminding us that the path to most goals has many unexpected twists and turns.
Children still naturally experience the joy of exploring a twisting path as they aren't so fixated at reaching a goal. Part of the purpose of our labyrinths will be to encourage this sense of exploration in both children and adults by adding challenges to help people slow down and look more carefully.
Some thoughts about labyrinths that I have found online:
The
purpose of this project is to provide intentional space and place for
reflection, renewal and creativity as we journey through the semester
and beyond.
Our quest, I feel, can be
summarized as this single obligation: to switch from life-as-maze to
life-as-labyrinth. The transformation from maze to labyrinth
requires us to dismiss much of our conditioning, to reevaluate our
identity, and to apply a new context to our lives. With
life-as-labyrinth, we discover that all paths are part of the One
Path, leading unfailingly to the center, where, despite appearances
and differences, we will eventually all meet. No one will be
lost. If we are alive, we are on the path."Helen Curry
Unlike a normal maze that is a left-brain puzzle, the labyrinth is a
right-brain tool that works in an intuitive and creative way. It
generally has very low walls, often no more than a line marked out on
the ground, so we can always see where the goal lies. Even though we
know that we cannot physically get lost within the space, we loose
track of where we are, becoming disorientated so that our confused
brains temporarily get out of the way, allowing us to find stillness
and hence to delve deeper within as we move beyond the mundane to a
more meditative, intuitive, or creative state of being.
A labyrinth is a complex
and circuitous path that leads from a beginning point to a center.
There are two primary varieties:
-
a Maze, with repeatedly dividing paths, forcing the traveler to choose among options, some of which may be dead ends, while others double back on themselves, so that the traveler has no assurance of ever reaching the goal and is constantly faced with decisions and frustrations, but also may experience the relief and surprise of having made the right choices leading to the goal; or
-
a Meander, with a single, undivided path and no choices to make other than traveling onward through the winding pattern to an assured goal. The meandering pattern may tease the traveler by leading now inward, then suddenly outward, but eventually it arrives surely at the goal. Of meandering labyrinths, the two best-known types are the seven-circuit Cretan pattern (used for the labyrinth at Olcott) and the eleven-circuit pattern on the floor of the cathedral at Chartres (chosen by many churches today).
A
labyrinth is not a maze or a puzzle to be solved but a path of
meaning to be experienced. Its path is circular and convoluted, but
it has no dead ends. A labyrinth has one entrance -- one way in and
one way out. When we walk the path, we go around short curves and
long curves; sometimes we are out on the edge, sometimes we circle
around the center. We are never really lost, but we can never quite
see where we are going.
Along
the path we sometimes move forward with ease and confidence:
sometimes we creep ahead cautiously, sometimes we find the need to
stop and reflect, and sometimes we even feel the urge to retreat. The
center is there but our path takes us through countless twists and
turns. Sometimes we are at the heart of our life experiences,
sometimes we are at a playful turn; sometimes we share our path with
others, and other times we don't. No matter what, we are still on the
labyrinth path. It holds all our experiences, in life and in work.
And to draw upon the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher
Heraclitus, we need to be aware that what looks like an end
point can also be a beginning point. Indeed, in so many
ways, the labyrinth is like life.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-pattakos/meaning-of-life_b_1584775.html?ir=Australia
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