Walking A Sacred Path
Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Path
by The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress
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Discernment, pg. 168
I remain concerned that our spiritual hunger is so great that any shred
of the numinous could be overvalued, leading to inflation—or undervalued, leading to a "been there, done that" attitude. A woman in her early twenties came to a workshop and waltzed the labyrinth three times. On her second walk, she got in  touch with profound feelings of anger and grief over her spiritual upbringing. Instead of writing about her feelings, she had a strong need to move away from them. She walked the labyrinth again, but she left dissatisfied with her experience. It is not only the young and inexperienced who are prone to this. Many of us rifle through our experiences without reflection. To people like this, the labyrinth could become a fad, just another thing to do, to try without reflecting deeply on the experience.
The modern church has reason to sound a note of caution during these times of chaos. We need spiritual disciplines to channel the insight and energy that can overwhelm the human psyche, whether it is centering prayer, walking the labyrinth, painting a picture, or writing in a journal. The mind needs release from itself in order to find peace and wisdom. The inner world needs to flow into the outer and back again so we remember the invisible thread that weaves all or existence together.
Both our fear of and our attraction to the Sacred can lead us into an unfocused and reactive spiritual path. We may resist settling down into one practice. Sampling many approaches is not a bad way to begin our spiritual search, particularly if we are trying to break away from one specific tradition
or coming out of a cult experience. Explore as many traditions and teachers as possible. But remember that we should be able to find a method or a path that helps stabilize and focus our search. The labyrinth can be a place of refuge for someone who is overwhelmed and seeking.
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Excerpts from Walking A Sacred Path ©1995 by Dr. Lauren Artress used with permission from the author. To purchase a copy of Walking a Sacred Path, visit the non-profit bookstore Sacred Path Books & Art. This link is provided as a service to explorefaith.org visitors and registered users.
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