From the labyrinth, (and this isn't as good an analogy of real life as some of the other imagery we've shared) the center is always visible. So is the outer edge. So you may not understand why the center seems to come no nearer, or why you've doubled back on yourself so many times, but you can tell you're still in the thing, somewhere! You can back out. You can give up and stomp out the entry trellis, or just trample the fruits and flowers and step right over the boundary and out. Or you can stay in and keep trying.
If the labyrinth represents the Way of Love, the way that leads to the heart's home, to the Center of Being where the All-Being is drawing you to the greatest heart of unconditional, unfathomable love in the universe, then perhaps we could say the whole field represents human life in general. In other words, while it is possible to opt out of life entirely, either by directly committing suicide or by slowly killing soul and body with destructive practices, it's more common to stay in life but give up on the Way, concluding that it's too difficult, requires too much work, and probably won't really lead anywhere, anyway! We can spend time in the wilderness outside the labyrinth, mocking those who try to walk it and discover its secrets, claiming there is no true Center, trying to make ourselves believe we are having more fun doing whatever we want whenever we want than trying to follow any one particular path.
"There are many paths!" we can proclaim, while wandering drunkenly and aimlessly through a life that feels pointless--and looks it.
There is only one path to the True Center. Only One. It has been and is being shown countless times (literally--uncountable by human minds!) It sparkles in the eyes of many people you know and see every day. It's described in lots of holy books and scrolls (though always in human words, and more recognizable in some than in others). But I believe it was never shown as perfectly as by One Man, One who chose to be born here in our maze of dead ends and false paths,to lead us to the One True Path. This One claimed to be the Son of God, accepted worship, predicted His own death and resurrection, and walked toward it fearfully, but willingly. Who loved us more than He feared the Great Darkness. Who, in fact, lit up and thereby destroyed that Great Darkness, just as He has since lit up and destroyed the darkness in my own inner dungeons, which had terrorized and tripped me up for so long.
He says He's the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). I believe Him. And no matter how confused or angry or hopeless I've ever felt, I've never left the labyrinth, and I never will. Like Peter, I say, "Where else would we go??" (John 6:68)
Don't leave! Yell, scream, sit down and cry for a while if you have to, but don't leave! Reach out for a hand. You'll find one.
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