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Labyrinth
The last thing I wanted to
do was to go to an art lecture last night. My days are filled with nitty
gritty problems dealing with family and hearth. However, art has always
been my quiet revelry, so I picked up my tired feet and drove to the
library.
The slight woman, who was
the speaker, I have known for many years. She is a picture of the people
of our society, who are diligently trying to cope with the world about
them. The great work she had put into collecting pictures of Labyrinths
was on a large screen in front of a small group of people. She had put
much thought and study into trying to understand the meaning of these
symbols many cultures and countries had marked on the ground and floors of
Cathedrals from Europe to the Americas in the way of Native Americans.
Ultimately she had to admit there was most a mystery as to the real
purpose and meaning of them.
One she showed that was on
the Isle of Crete was tied up with the Minotaur, part bull and part human.
The myth to tell of a young man who found his way in and out by holding a
string his maiden, who loved him, had handed him. The speaker had gone no
farther back in her study of the labyrinth than this ancient legend.
How much can we divulge of
our own knowledge and how much must we keep to ourselves that we might not
put too great a taxation on a person’s mind?
Carefully, I moved along in
my mind asking questions like, “Are all the circuits on these labyrinths
of an uneven number?”
“Well, yes! Interesting!”
Came her reply as if she had not considered this. Actually, there is a
great study of the ancient superstitions tied up with uneven numbers. I
felt she suddenly became of aware of this for the first time, because
later she commented on “the interest in numerology.”
The speaker went on to tell
that there is a great interest in these labyrinths in the United States
with quite a few right here in Oklahoma. In fact, one at our Standing Bear
Park.
The paths of the labyrinths
are set in a mathematical way, and no one can ignore that. There are some
with quadrants ending in octagons. The ones in Rome have four equal quads
and are of a square instead of a circle.
Of course, Math is the left
brain and is dominant. These are the little whispers that keep telling an
artist, “let me take control. You are doing this work incorrectly.”
This is obvious in the most
popular of the labyrinth which has the classic flower design of the left
brain, six petals, all the same size, and same shape. A flower like a
child would draw, who has not developed the creative right brain.
It isn’t that the symbolism
is something new, in fact, it goes back to the beginning of time, when man
stood up to his Creator, and in childlike left brain thinking grasped for
a round shape in front of him. The early religions, who had a God they
could not see came into direct conflict with the branches off Adam, who
wished to see something to worship, a labyrinth, Easter Island statues, a
pole, a tree, something, anything, to satisfy that demanding left brain. I
deal with it continually, when I attempt to draw a flower with petals as
they are, sometimes, shredded, limp, veined, but in reality.
To continue to worship in
spirit and truth then becomes a struggle like Adam’s, who, insisted on
being able to “see” his pathway. Consequently, he lost the one real
connection he had with his God, the ability to hear him speak. However, we
were left with the gift of prayer and for this we do not need any tool to
help us meditate, certainly not one to tie us to a dominant left brain,
that thinks it has all the answers. We won’t even go into some of those,
ancient cultures who had a superior knowledge of mind control over
innocent children as they were led to human sacrifice. I can’t think about
that, it is too early in the morning for me.
Here are some pictures of
Labyrinths.
http://www.labyrinthos.net/photos.htm |
