Meditation for April 27th, 2016
Urban Labyrinths
The meditation of walking through a maze is as old as civilization itself. A wanderer enters a labyrinth and puts one foot in front of the other. As the wanderer enters the maze, he or she will say a short prayer, which will focus the walk. As the wanderer walks through the labyrinth, he or she will slowly let go and enter a trance as he or she concentrates on each step.
There are labyrinths at cathedrals, parks, and other places that support the meditative life. When one needs to take a few moments, one can go to one of these labyrinths and do a walk through.
If you don’t know where one is or don’t find the labyrinth to have the power needed to cut away the material strings that are attached to us, we go and get lost.
The whole world is a labyrinth! You can literally go to any city, town, canyon, desert, and forest, Costco or Wal-Mart and get lost.
Some of us have great senses of direction, but a lot of us get confused in our own one bedroom apartment, so it is easier to get lost. Go to a neighborhood you never been to and get out and walk around. Look at the gardens, through the windows and say hello to all the dogs and cats you pass.
This is guerilla labyrinth meditation. You don’t need a Dante’s Inferno or a Dungeons and Dragons game to walk through a maze of traps and monsters, our world has those already! If you need the scary mosey to hell, pick a scarier neighborhood and do it at night. Some of the scary neighborhoods I know are in the suburbs where people are just suspicious of anyone that is wandering aimlessly around with a backpack on. You have to lookout for dogs, skunks, over zealous cops, motion detection lights, and the Cult of the Neighborhood Watch. These are hazardous and can put an end to your labyrinth walk, but bravery and willing to put up a fight will get you through. Don’t let some wrought iron gate with security personnel keep you from wandering a dangerous neighborhood.
Go out exploring. Get lost. As Harriet Tubman once said, “Not all who wander are lost.”
Prayer
Daedalus,
I will wander through your Gods’ labyrinths.
I will stop and see things.
I will never be in a hurry.
People in a hurry don’t get life.
They miss everything.
I won’t get there by car,
For I must see things up close and at my pace.
Help me get lost.
Never allow me to always know where I am,
And where I am going.
I must always be at a fork in the road.
I must always be thinking about where I want to go.
May I forever be in a natural grocery store and reading ingredients.
Minotaur,
You want me to not ever make it to the end of this maze.
You are part human and part animal.
The human part is what makes you so evil.
As a human,
You enjoy helping in my failures.
As a human,
You enjoy watching me go the wrong way.
As a human,
You enjoy seeing me going back the way I came.
As a human,
You love being in my way.
As a human,
You love being stronger, smarter and better than me.
As a human,
You love watching me give up.
As an animal,
You just want to be.
Amen.
Craft
Things you will need on an urban labyrinth walk.
Backpack
Proper clothes
11-foot rope
Headlamp
Flashlight
Something warm to put on when the sun goes down.
Leatherman or a pocketknife
Water bottle with water
Thermos with a local organic fair trade shade grown coffee – no cream or sugar because cream and sugar are for people who should just be at home watching Murder She Wrote, eating bon bons and complaining about the weather on the phone to their sister.
Chalk – to help see where you’ve already been or to leave secret symbol messages for other wanderers.
Poop bags for you and your dog
Garbage bag for litter removal
A box of granola bars for sustenance
$15.85
Headphones and a music player (a newer “smart” phone has MP3 player capabilities. Maybe make yourself an urban labyrinth mix.)
A P226 SAO Legion machine pistol.
Goal
Just go out and wander around. It’s good exercise and you’ll learn a lot more about the world around you and the people in it then you will possibly learn being on the computer.