The path to truth, happiness, fulfillment, is not straightforward. Like a children’s scavenger hunt, the final treasure may be located right where we started, but the clues along the way lead us on a circuitous journey that ends where we began.
When I worked at hospice, I sometimes brought the parents from my infant loss group to a labyrinth located in a beautiful natural setting in the foothills above town. Its circular path was created with stones, and the large oaks surrounding it provided a peaceful environment for healing. Many of the parents experienced a profound shift in their grief process as they walked slowly to the center of the labyrinth and back out to the starting point. Externally, they hadn’t traveled anywhere except around in circles. But the internal journey of contemplation as they walked, brought them to a new experience of their losses. The act of walking the labyrinth was a deep, meditative experience that drew in a profound energy, transforming their suffering. It didn’t remove their grief, but it was a powerful step in their process.
Can we view our lives as similar to walking the labyrinth? Life is a journey that goes in a circle, externally—from birth to death. We accomplish many things, take many actions, have many experiences, but in the end it all disappears like footprints on water. What did we become in the process? Did we find our true self? Did we discover the truth beyond this ordinary, mundane life with all its twists and turns, ups and downs? Did we arrive at the center, which the yogis call ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever new bliss, otherwise known as God?
When the parents from the hospice group reached the center of the labyrinth and experienced an internal shift, the return trip to the starting point was more peaceful, even joyful at times. They walked with a lighter step as if they had shed their burden of grief and left it in the center, releasing it to the Universe.
We are all required to travel the labyrinth of life, to make the pilgrimage that is our life. In the process can we come to the realization that what we are searching for is right here and now? Can we surrender the unnecessary burden—our false sense of control—that has been the source of our suffering? For most of us, there are things we want to do that never materialize, and other things we never thought we would do that happened anyway. Our life is living itself despite our best efforts to control it. Our best-laid plans are sometimes thwarted by circumstances beyond our control. Like the hospice parents who experienced the loss of their infants, our life trajectories can be altered by unexpected events.
Navigating the gains and losses, joy and sorrow that life inevitably brings can seem impossible at times. Traveling a spiritual path can give meaning to our experiences and help us grow from them. The spiritual masters tell us that through awareness and surrender we can cooperate with Destiny, Nature, Life, God. Our lives are filled with synchronicities that guide us toward our highest good when we are aware and open to them.
Of course, walking the labyrinth didn’t completely heal the grief the hospice parents were experiencing, but for some, it gave them a new perspective as they journeyed through the rough terrain of their grief. The labyrinth, like meditation and other spiritual practices, is a tool to help us turn within, where all the answers are found. The healing and happiness we are all seeking is contained in the lives we are living right here and now when we connect with the stillness at the center of all the ups and downs.
Consider This: Are you cooperating with Destiny as you travel the labyrinth of your life? Can you see the perfection in all the twists and turns of your life that brought you to where you are now?
