The Meaning of the Labyrinth

"I come here to find myself because it's so easy to get lost in the world."  -John Burroughs

 The labyrinth is a unique tool/symbol that was handed to me when I needed something to hang on to.  It had been a tumultuous few years.  I was trying to escape it all and get as far away from everything I knew as I could manage.  This meant attending a school in central Florida that was a simulated 3rd world village.  Its purpose was to train people for the practical aspects of living in a third world environment.  I personally wanted to learn more sustainable life skills and put myself in a completely different situation.  Ironically, just as I was trying to escape it all, I discovered the labyrinth, which is designed to help people find their way.  As part of the school, we each had to choose a semester project.  I wanted to study spiritual disciplines.  My advisor asked if I knew anything about labyrinths, which I did not at the time.  As I began to research, I felt more and more connected to them.  I learned how to draw the Cretan labyrinth, which is said to be the first labyrinth design.  It is also the most simplistic, which was part of the attraction.  I found myself drawing it over and over.  My class notes from this school have multiple labyrinths in the margins. I read everything I could get my hands on about it (we did have access to a library after the first several weeks).  I also ended up building one out of pvc pipes and rope.  The labyrinth is typically created so that you can comfortably walk the path.  It has been used throughout the centuries as a walking prayer.  It is different than a maze.  A maze is created to get you lost with multiple turns and obstacles.  The maze is a puzzle to figure out.  On the other hand, a labyrinth is designed to help you find your way.  It is one path in and one path out.  You won't get lost...just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Because you won't get lost, you can walk without thinking or worrying.  You can just walk , knowing that your path is already laid out before you.  So, you walk the path to the center, spend time there in prayer or meditation, and then follow the same path back out.  Walking towards the center represents spending time with yourself in reflection.  Spending time in the center is literally meant to be centering before walking back out, symbolizing re-connecting with those around you.  It is a spiral that strikes a balance of spending time on your inner self and then connecting with your community.  I love that reminder, that ebb and flow.  Some also see the labyrinth as an ancient feminine symbol due to all its curves and circular aspects.  Some go so far as to see it as the divine womb.  Because of the point in my journey when I discovered it, it became my healing symbol.  I had been feeling stuck.  I was neither able to engage myself or others in any real sort of way.  For me, the labyrinth became a reminder to keep moving forward on my journey, to quit being afraid of getting lost, to just keep walking.  It also helped me to remember to center and to connect with myself and others, knowing that there is a balance of doing both.  To this day, I have an affinity for labyrinths and the notion of a prayer that involves movement and moving forward on our path.  The word "reimagine" entered shortly after I began to feel the affects of having discovered the labyrinth, which is why it felt appropriate that the labyrinth should be a logo for me having "reimagined" my life.