One of the many reasons that walking the labyrinth is such a powerful metaphor for our journey through life is the myriad ways that it parallels our experience. One example: in general, even for those of us who have one major goal in life toward which we are working, our daily existence is comprised of many smaller goals – destinations along the route, if you will – which are stepping stones (or detours) on the way to the ultimate objective. We can view each individual life-event as its own self-contained labyrinth, for the center of the labyrinth is itself not a final destination. When navigating the labyrinth, even if you pause for reflection at the center, you still have to walk the winding path back out.
It is worthwhile to realize that at the heart of every experience in our lives there lies a treasure, waiting to be discovered, and we carry it out with us as we tread the return path. Every circumstance we face in life, whether a tribulation or a celebration, has something of value for us at the core of the experience of living through it. It is on the return path that we find the opportunity to process the worth of the gift we have received at the center.
Our personal wisdom is comprised of these treasures – these souvenirs of our journey – and we take them with us into every successive labyrinth whose path we follow. Each individual’s attitude and perspective is a uniquely faceted prism – built from those gifts of our individual life experiences – through which we view every new twist and turn we encounter.
Where have you come from? Do you allow the mementos of knowledge and insight you have collected on your journey to weigh you down or lift you up? How have your experiences changed you and prepared you to face the unknown path ahead? And what significance does this hold for how you get where you are going?
~ Christiana
