The labyrinth is an ancient device for walking meditation. Though one of its most familiar manifestations is engraved in the stone floor of the 13 th century nave of Chartres cathedral, it has pre-Christian roots in many cultures, and people have been walking the convoluted path to the center and back again for countless centuries. Its current popularity as an instrument for centering, prayer and reflection may stem from its apparent omni-sectarian appeal, and from the richness of the metaphor of pilgrimage and the sacred journey in the spirituality and practice of people from a very wide spectrum of religious traditions and habits of the heart. The labyrinth looks like a maze – but you can’t get lost! The beautifully complex path always leads faithfully to the center, and then always back out again to the waiting world.
During January of 2005, about two dozen members of the Williams community helped to create a 36-foot portable canvas labyrinth. There aren’t many spaces on campus that can cope with that expanse! – but it does fit in the Currier Ballroom, in the Fellowship Hall of the First Congregational Church, on the outdoor plaza in front of Stetson Hall, and perhaps in a few other places we haven’t discovered yet. Several times each semester, for several days at a time, the labyrinth will be spread out and available for many kinds of meditative use; hours and other information will be posted on this web page and in other campus communications.
Walking the Labyrinth is a spiritual practice that predates and transcends most sectarian ties. It can be helpful and exhilarating to anyone for whom some aspect of life or some current question or struggle seems like a sacred journey – within the context of a particular religious perspective, or entirely apart from any such tradition. Most people need about 20 or 30 minutes for a gentle, reflective walk to the center and then back out again – though it’s possible to stretch the journey longer, or to linger in the center. Instructions for walking will be always be available (it couldn’t be simpler!), as well as resources to help you make use of the walk in the context of your own spirituality, prayer life or reflection on what’s going on in your life.
We ask
only that you remove your shoes – partly as a gesture of
acknowledgement that a sacred journey is in progress, and partly
so as to protect and preserve the clean canvas – and that
you respect the journeys of others whose walks may already be in
progress when you arrive, or who may still be walking when you
leave – and that you enter the walk with the wholehearted
intention of listening, discovering, being surprised, being nourished,
being renewed.