"Turn, turn, turn." (Editorial). (1998, May 16). The Boston Globe, p. A18.

OVERVIEW

Thousands of Americans in the late 1990s began walking, running, skipping, chanting, and dancing, or even crawling through patterns of ancient cultures and religions. A computer Web site in 1998 listed 100 such labyrinths in the U.S. alone with many more being constructed.

A labyrinth is a pattern built into church, hospital, or college chapel floors, or painted on concrete or macadam, mowed or chalked into lawns, or traced into sand. Canvas models are also available. The path within its borders moves in a circular direction...into the center and out the same entrance as one entered. Circular in shape, the labyrinth is not a maze; one need not fear choices or dead ends. Nor can one fear isolation because of high hedges or barriers. Flat to the ground, one can see the entirety of the path from its entrance.

Labyrinths are supposed to have their spiritual roots in Native American, Celtic, or other early Christian cultures. Because there are no choices, one can move through the labyrinth on "automatic pilot." The mind is free to focus on any issue brought to this method of meditation, and the path itself may symbolize the circuitious path of daily and annual life...or the life cycle itself. Almost all who walk this path would say their minds were not preoccupied with the labyrinth itself, but on larger issues, on an inner voice unheard in the din of busy life, and on some spiritual quest. Some bring to it their regular practice of orthodox prayer.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION

1. Have you heard of such labyrinths or ever walked one? What is your impression of such a practice?
2. Do you think labyrinths are another New Age practice or is it just another form of meditation and prayer?
3. What would you see as benefits or dangers of using a labyrinth? Why?
4. Do you think labyrinths are a part of post-modern deconstruction or a beginning of a reaction against postmodernism? Would you expect labyrinths to be more popular with Boomers, Generation X, or Millenial Kids?

IMPLICATIONS

• The history of labyrinths should be more fully explored.
• It will be interesting to investigate the global use of labyrinths.
• The popularity of labyrinths on some university campuses and elsewhere suggests a growing desire to express spirituality in non-traditional and non-institutional ways. It is also a place where all religions can meet together.