While Pink Floyd is singing and I listen “wish you were here”, “Shine on..” and so…..
A friend of mine says:
“Además de una atracción indeterminada, me parece un misterio a descubrir, sobre todo su antigüedad que los hace aparecer en el neolítico y su generalización en casi todos los continentes”. Jose Chamorro.
José Chamorro
Do you know why? Philosophy, brain, travel, consciousness, decorative arts, gardens: labyrinths appear on every continent, transcending culture, language, and geographic boundaries. From centuries ago the meaning of this word has been related with different categories of symbols.
We can find spirals and rudimentary labyrinth-like forms on prehistoric cave walls. A prehistoric petroglyph on a riverbank in Goa shows them and has been dated 2500 BC. Prehistoric labyrinths are believed to have served as traps for malevolent spirits or as defined paths for ritual dances. Other examples have been found among cave art in northern India. Early labyrinths in India all follow the classical pattern and probably the same meaning: the spiral way where opposites such as life/death, light/dark, male/female. In Greek mythology, the labyrinth retains its connection with death and a triumphant return. Indians make the labyrinth regard it as a sacred symbol, a beneficial ancestor, a deity. In this they may be preserving its original meaning not only a sacred path to the home of a sacred ancestor, but also, perhaps, a representation of the ancestor him/herself.
www.maestrex.es
In medieval times, the labyrinth symbolized a hard path to God with a clearly defined center (God) and one entrance (birth). Labyrinths, began to appear on church walls and floors around 1000 C.E., and there are even examples from churches in the Roman Empire. The purpose of the labyrinths is not clear, though there are surviving descriptions of French clerics performing a ritual Easter dance along the path on Easter Sunday. Some books suggest that mazes on cathedral floors originated in the medieval period as alternatives to pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but the earliest attested use of the phrase “chemin de Jerusalem” (trail to Jerusalem) dates to the late 18th century. The accompanying ritual, depicted in Romantic illustrations as involving pilgrims following the maze on their knees while praying. Labyrinths can be thought of as symbolic forms of pilgrimage; people can walk the path, ascending toward salvation or enlightenment. Many people could not afford to travel to holy sites and lands, so labyrinths and prayer substituted for such travel. Later, the religious significance of labyrinths faded, and they served primarily for entertainment.
Norwegian labyrinth
In European churches and cathedrals, labyrinths are said to have been “constructed to protect both the church and the worshipers from evil influences”. Even more generally, labyrinth might be applied to any extremely complicated maze-like structure, some, have been described as plans of forts or cities as defense system (Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose). Many newly made labyrinths exist today, in churches and parks, all over the world. Labyrinths are used by modern mystics to help achieve a contemplative state. Recently their spiritual aspect has seen a resurgence among people, lose their religious confidence apply other geomantic, architectural or iconographic formulas which, in the end represent the same symbol of the “Centre.”
Whatever labyrinth means, transcends culture, language, race, and time, and speaks to our hearts. Labyrinth of Silence invites us into its mystery, which calls to us to engage it and walk the path, basically the challenge on the way. For private meditation like a place of opening ourselves to receive the power of the nature spirit, to been used in group ritual like a place of rest, a place where we are able to encounter to renewed energy, refreshment and vitality of spirit.
Your Teacher will not hide anymore, but your eyes shall see your teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it. (Isaiah 30:20b NRSV)
- www.maestrex.es
