Foundational Quote for the Labyrinth Project

This quote gets to the heart of the Labyrinth Project

“Labyrinths are unicursal, having a single path. With no choices or intersections, that path leads unfailingly (though circuitously) to the center. Mazes, on the other hand, have multiple paths and myriad choices, most of which lead nowhere. As a literary motif and allegory, the labyrinth is almost universally confused with a maze as a symbol for difficult entry or exit, for disorientation and complexity, or as a metaphor of the human condition. This confusion between labyrinths and mazes is evident in most dictionaries, which define each one as the other.

There is, in fact, a big difference experientially. Life-as-maze and life-as-labyrinth are opposite concepts, mutually exclusive, with vastly different metaphysical premises. In a maze we lose our way, in a labyrinth we find our way. A maze often involves a physical and mental contest between the walker and the maze designer, in the end producing not just losers but victims, failure at the hands of someone else. In a labyrinth there is no competition; we can relax the intellect and be present with the journey itself, establishing our connection to the sacred.

 Although most of us acknowledge the desirability of labyrinths, when it comes down to it, we generally see our lives as mazes, not labyrinths. It is easy to feel that we are off the path, that success in not assured, or that it comes only with luck and struggle. We see many of the decisions or events in our lives not as turns but as dead ends, time wasted, money lost, opportunities missed. We reprimand ourselves when we are divorced, or downsized, or if we fail as parents. Our rational minds work overtime. These are all traits of a maze, not a labyrinth.

Our spiritual 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, The Way of the Labyrinth)