Labyrinth Reflections

Willy Harrison

Day One:
“From daydreams on the road there was no waking. He plodded on. He could remember everything of her save her scent. Seated in a theatre with her beside him leaning forward listening to the music. Gold scrollwork and sconces and the tall columnar folds of the drapes at either side of the stage. She held his hand in her lap and he could feel the tops of her stockings through the thin stuff of her summer dress. Freeze this frame. Now call down your dark and your cold and be damned.”
-(Cormac Mccarthey, The Road)

While we have not finished constructing the labyrinth yet, I am excited to see what the meditative walk will bring me. I have found great joy during the building of this project. I have found this process to be intuitive, creative, and at times troublesome. When we first began discussing this project I viewed it as next to impossible. Constructing a Chartres Labyrinth on a random patch of grass with very little time or resources didn’t seem feasible. But once we started working on it I realised how much of a success it had become and finishing the maze no longer seemed impossible. My personal realizations during this project mirror that of many of the characters we have read about. When Siddhartha began his journey he was optimistic about his journey to enlightenment, but ultimately when he doubts himself his goals are set on pause. Siddhartha reaches a point of awakening, realises he has trod off his path, and once he re-begins his path he realises his goal is achievable.

Day Two:

“The first commandment for every good explorer is that an expedition has two points: the point of departure and the point of arrival. If your intention is to make the second theoretical point coincide with the actual point of arrival, don't think about the means -- because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are as many means as there are different ways of 'finishing.' That is to say, the means are endless.”

- (Ernesto “Che” Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries)

Much like Che’s journey across South America, our pilgrimage was halted due to weather. Che experienced numerous situations where he and Alberto were stuck, no food, no tent, and a broken motorcycle. While their situation far exceeds my own in terms of peril and risk of survival, both Che and myself had our goals put on pause due to outside influences. Coincidentally, my pilgrimage was paused by weather and many of Che’s goals were paused by weather. Che and myself have to find alternative solutions to continue our pilgrimages. Due to the rare rainstorm in Southern California, my alternative solution to my pilgrimage was reflection. Reflection was a powerful tool that Che chose to use many times throughout his journey through Latin America. Che’s personal journal served as the world’s way of seeing his journey, both physical and spiritual.

Day Three:

“But now, his liberated eyes stayed on this side, he saw and became aware of the visible, sought to be at home in this world, did not search for the true essence, did not aim at a world beyond. Beautiful was this world, looking at it thus, without searching, thus simply, thus childlike. Beautiful were the moon and the stars, beautiful was the stream and the banks, the forest and the rocks, the goat and the golden beetle, the flower and the butterfly. It was beautiful and lovely to walk through the world, childlike and awake, open to what is near without distrust.” (Herman Hesse, Siddhartha)

Entering into the Labyrinth I was completely immersed into a whole new world without sound, distraction, and other people. As soon as I entered the Labyrinth I could feel the absence of outside forces. I was solely focused on my footsteps and following the path in front of me. Walking on the labyrinth could give my mind a sigh of relief. It had finally found a break from all outside forms of stress, sadness, and even happiness. For only a few moments it had become a blank slate of emotion, only processing my steps on the labyrinth. For those few minutes that I was on the labyrinth I felt like Siddhartha. This new world remembered all the good qualities of my current life and none of the bad. It could see all around me and encapture the beauty of the meditation garden, but while mainly following each and every one of my footsteps.