The concept of the labyrinth originated from Greek mythology, but over the centuries it has come to represent the spiral growth of man. Symbolically, we enter the world through birth, and we each travel the singular, spiraling path back to the center, our Source. Once you have reached the center, that place of enlightenment or wisdom, you can make the return trip back to where you entered, through death. Labyrinths are often built as an area for walking meditations. The path to the center is not complicated. A maze, on the other hand, is a veritable tangle of confusing twists and turns, which do not always lead to the center, but will eventually lead to an exit.
These two similar puzzles seem to represent two choices that a person can take on his or her life journey. Most labyrinths are made in patterns of the Fibonacci spiral, which is representative of the basis of life on our planet. People who follow a more or less singular path may reach enlightenment sooner. Those who veer off into the complicated, and often dangerous roads, can also reach the center, eventually.
There are as many paths in life as there are people. Some will stay on the well-traveled, safe roads. Some will opt for the dangerous and uncertain ones. A very few will choose the path less traveled, but all will ultimately arrive back from where they started, at the very Source of life.
It is a reminder to me that regardless how lost one becomes and regardless how many mistakes or wrong turns she has made, she will sooner or later, find her way home. The man who has led a life devoid of love and compassion, and who has incurred a great karmic debt will also one day be led back home. In everything we do, in every choice we make, the bottom line is that we always have choices. That choice is made either consciously or unconsciously, by the atmosphere of our minds. We can choose to fill our minds with hatred or we can choose as Michael Singer suggests, to have a beautiful mind. I highly recommend his book, The Untethered Soul, to those who have not read it. In the meantime, you can walk a labyrinth, or choose the more difficult maze. The choice is yours.
