WEBVTT - Labyrinths 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:06.640 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:13.520 Works dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.200 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.360 And in our last episode we deal with mazes. We 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.480 actually started in a maze and steadily worked our way 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.040 out of it. And now we have escaped from the maze. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:30.480 We are outside of this confusing, confining, perplexing, stressful environment 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:35.040 of enclosing walls, and we have now escaped into the 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:39.040 realm of the labyrinth. Now, as we mentioned in the 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.000 previous podcast, and we're gonna rehash here, there's a difference 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.440 between a maze and a labyrinth. These terms are often 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.120 used interchangeably to a certain extent. It's kind of an 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.440 elegant variation where you use use a word to describe 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.680 something that is similar but it's not quite the same. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.680 They're often used interchangeably, so he can't get too up 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:00.680 in arms over the distinction, but certainly for modern users, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.360 there is a distinction between labyrinth and mazes. The maze 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.080 is a path of it's not even a path, it's 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.640 just the space of walls that are confining you in 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.119 and you're trying to find your way out. There dead ends, 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.240 there are corners, There may or may not be a 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:18.039 minotaur wandering around after you. Uh. It is the stuff 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.399 of the hedge maze and the shining. It is the 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.200 stuff of everything you see in the movie Labyrinth. Despite 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.639 the name Labyrinth, that is uh, it is a movie 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.560 in which the individual rooms through mazes. Yeah, it's a 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.720 spatial puzzle. And I really think about Labyrinth as more 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.320 of the antidote to a maze. Yes, because you're not 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.280 engaging the hippocampus as you would in a maze. Because 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.679 in a labyrinth, you don't have to really really worry 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.440 about the path or your memory or even trying to 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.840 stake out a blueprint, because really the blueprint is in 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.640 front of you. It may look like a maze, but 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.800 really it's one uh, continuing path that just circles around. Yeah. 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.280 You there's one entrance, there's one egg it and there 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.800 are no choices to make you simply follow the path. 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:08.000 And the path is winding, and the path is slow 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.800 going because you're having to take all these turns in 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.280 these in these twists, but never do you have to 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:14.840 actually think do I go this way or that way? 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.040 Because there are no choices. It is. It is one 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:19.680 curving line from one end to the other. It's like 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:21.640 a ball of string, you know, if you were to 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.120 travel through that string on the outside, and it looks 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.280 intricate and complicated, but but really it is one path. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.400 And I really think about it as an act of 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.200 submission when you enter into this labyrinth, because you are 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.720 following a preordained path, right, and you are submitting yourself 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.560 to this path, and in doing so, UM, it is 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:44.160 a sort of meditative practice because you are now UM, 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.240 I guess you could say you are busying your mind 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.520 just with the act of walking. And that's what we're 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.959 going to talk about today. We talked about the stress 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.160 response with m mazes, but now we're going to talk 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.720 about this more meditative quality of the labyrinth and what 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.360 it means to us on a logical and physical level. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.680 But first I want to mention that labyrinths are all 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.440 over the world, um, and have been for for many 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.000 thousands of years. You can find them in the United States, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:16.760 in Europe and India, Afghanistan, Java, Sumatra, and various sights 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.840 in the US left by Pueblo Indians, the Happy and 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.160 Zuni and others. Yeah, you see the design of a labyrinth. 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.440 You see it on a classic room and flooring, you 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.040 see in the remains of labyrinths throughout Scandinavian Northern Europe. 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.600 You see it in the graffiti at Pompeii, Ancient Britain's 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.040 cut labyrinths into the turf, Bronze Age tombs in Sardinia, 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.800 other carvings dating back to three thousand d C. It's 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.480 like the maze. We discussed how the maze. It's like 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:47.120 this pure physical or pattern base, but certainly a physical 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:52.920 embodiment of either internal confusion or external navigation confusion. It 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.280 is about the state of confusion in the human mind 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.320 as a physical reality, and like you said, the the 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.840 labyrinth is an antidote to that. Yeah, it really is 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.560 the polar opposite. And it's funny that those terms are 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.240 used interchangeably because when you think about a labyrinth, you 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.680 think about wide open space. It's right, because this is 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.480 typically something that is uh cut into the earth or 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.880 made with stones or made out of stones, and so 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.240 you can still see the vista around you. You're not 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.640 your vision isn't impaired in anyway. In other words, there's 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.480 not something on your right or left, and uh, you 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.040 can see and hear everything right. In fact, some would 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.479 say that you're able to pay attention more to these 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.400 aspects of being. You're able to really tune into the 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.440 sounds around you, the smells, the sites. So it really 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.800 is the polar opposite of a maze. Yeah. Yeah, there's 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.919 no walls rising up around you. It's a winding course, 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:48.520 but there are no choices to be made, and you 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.440 generally find these your You often find them rather uh 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.560 in churches, either in or in the serene garden environments. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.599 I encountered one at the Desert Museum in Arizona where 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.320 they had and out amid the cacti in this one 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.880 little cactus garden, and it was just really serene. You 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.480 start at the beginning of the labyrinth and it just 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.080 curls you around and you're just walking following the path, 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.400 noticing all these beautiful succulent plants growing all around you. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.360 And then eventually you wind your way back out and 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:23.640 you just yesterday sought out a labyrinth within the maze 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.880 that is Atlanta. So, especially since there aren't really I mean, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:32.000 labyrinths don't really make for great movie and fictional storytelling, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.800 you know, because movies and in fiction, and I mean, 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.880 it's all about putting you in a situation of drama. 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.239 So of course fictional characters wind up in mazes. They rarely, 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.520 it seems, wind up in labyrinth. So describe your experience 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.440 with the labyrinth. UM. I walked it at St. Barthl 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:54.039 Bartholow mules Uh Episcopal Church, I believe, and it was 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.480 an outdoor one and it was really lovely, and I'm 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.640 sure I have a psychologically primed for the event, but UM, 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.880 I spent minutes walking in a couple of times, and 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.400 what I noticed about it is that it does draw 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.359 you out of yourself again. The landscape is open, you 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.640 can see the sky, you begin to notice things, and 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.680 this is really important. I think we'll talk about this 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.960 um a little bit later. But it takes you out 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.520 of that chattering part of your brain a bit um 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:24.120 and it puts you It gives you a little bit 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.520 more stillness. And that's what I noticed. And here's how 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:33.320 I actually tested the level of meditative UH quality to 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.080 this experience. I went to the Whole Foods after this. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.760 Now it's a it's late December now and there's a 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.839 lot of bustling action at Whole Foods. I despise going 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:50.120 to Whole Foods, even when it's a calm period, because 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.640 people seem to me to act very aggressively in Whole Foods, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.400 whether or not just trying to get a parking space 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.440 or they're just taking their shopping carts around and jamming 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.880 into the aisles. For some reason, I find it to 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.960 be a disturbing place to be, even though it has 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.479 a sort of holistic vibe about it of health and 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.240 wellness and all that stuff. Afterwards, after walking this labyrinth, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:12.840 I was like I was floating on air. I did 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.480 not care. I parked really far away. Who could care 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.760 about getting a parking space up close? I didn't um. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.640 But of course all of this again could be psychological priming. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.880 But I think that does speak to this act, that 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.640 when you go through this physical act, that there can 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:31.400 be some sort of transformation mentally. And was it circular 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.720 basically informed, because it seems like that that is sort 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.160 of the standard for the labyrinth, is that looking at 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.560 it from above, it's the circular zone of in which 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.240 this path twists and turns. Yeah, it was circular, and 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.880 at the very center it had symbols had three things 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.680 that were a symbol of something. Now, I think you 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.720 guys will probably been hipped to the fact that I'm 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:53.560 not a religious person, so I don't know what the 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.560 significance of that is. I guess I'm going to make 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.480 a guess that it was like the what is it, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.200 the Holy Spirit? The three things, Larry Curly, yes, y, yeah, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.320 those those were the faces. I thought it was just 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.360 pattern recognition, but now that you say that, I think 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.600 it was Larry feeling it was the holy trend. But 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.600 it's interesting that you mentioned how it is this. There's 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.720 this feeling of guidance in the labyrinth, so it makes 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.840 perfect sense that they would be in holy spaces because 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.040 certainly within a church environment is the idea that God 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:22.960 is my co pilot, or you know, I'm gonna I'm 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.560 gonna trust in something greater than myself to guide me 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.800 through this life life. And therefore, what is the labyrinth? 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.280 But it is allowing the path to guide you and 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:35.760 in freeing yourself of the worries about which way did 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.480 you go this, this way or that way. One of 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.319 the most famous labyrinths that is this in a church 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:46.839 setting is Chartress and Um, an archaeological excavation has shown 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.200 that the cathedral this is in France overlies the alignment 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.480 and foundations of earlier Roman buildings. And this is built 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.880 in twelve sixty and around today. This is really cool. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.160 If you visit the labyrinth on the summer solstice, you'll 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.800 see that at exact actually at noon, a sunbeam falls 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.280 directly on a nail that was placed in the floor, 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.640 you know, And there's something beautiful about the I mean, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.520 it's still there because there are no there are no 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.880 walls to fall down inside a labyrinth. You construct a maze. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.560 We mentioned the Maze of Minos in the podcast about mazes. 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.280 You know, whether that actually existed in any way, shape 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.880 or form, you know, that's that's an area of discussion 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.200 among historians. Most seem to think it did not. We 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.080 certainly cannot find evidence of a vast subterranean maze in 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.520 which a monster lived. Uh. There's some speculation that the 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.600 palace itself there on crete, was kind of like a maze. 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.040 It had big, thick walls, and it was very intimidating 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.400 and a little confusing. But a lot of that has 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:42.839 fallen down and we've had to, you know, sort of 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.320 to to piece things back together. So a maze not 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.760 only the confusing, but it can fall and change due 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.880 to the weathering of the world. Whereas, uh, it's kind 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.000 of beautiful to think of a labyrinth that's something that 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.280 that is persistent because there's nothing that can be eroded. 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.880 It can be covered up, but it's still there underneath 0:09:59.920 --> 0:10:02.000 the turf if you know to look for it. You 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:03.679 know what's interesting about that too, I was I was 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.520 thinking about the Nazca lines, and these were lines drawn 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.640 by the Nasca people. And this is a civilization living 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.559 in modern Peru. Yeah, we're talking four between four hundred 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:19.160 and six d Yeah, and uh, this civilization actually disappeared 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.800 about hundred years ago, but you can still see the 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.560 traces of these lines, these labyrinths that were designed by 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.080 scraping away red dust and rock and revealing the white 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.520 ground underneath it. And um, and they're in the shape 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:36.360 of of of animals. Yeah, it's so cool, like animals, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:41.840 the monkeys, monkeys, some humans. Birds and fish are represented 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.480 humming birds, sharks, lizards. Yeah, and and these are huge. 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.439 We're talking about six hundred and sixty feet across and 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.760 so ancient aliens people love these. They the idea it's 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.520 like they would tell on aliens about monkeys, that's what 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.679 this was about. Well, actually, what they think is that 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.360 the was a rite of passage in that it was 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:07.120 a contemplative act done by small groups of the civilization 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.720 that they walked these labyrinths in order to get to 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:16.080 the end of Um. What was largely this metaphorical ritual. 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.240 For not only the idea here is not only is 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.440 this uh a line that creates the shape of a 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.120 monkey as visible from a spaceship, this is also this 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.280 is a line that you traverse. You're traversing the shape 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.559 of the monkey or the lizard or what have you. Yeah. 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:36.240 So again, you know, this is probably more meditative practice 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.920 that was done by the civilization UM, and not communication 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.040 to ancient aliens. UM. But I think that it points 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.880 to this idea that throughout history there has been this 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.320 sort of walking meditation done in different ways. Yes, and 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.280 we'll get more into the idea of walking meditation shortly. Yeah, 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.600 particularly when you consider it being used as a healing 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.200 practice and and actually in medical well um centers. Yeah, 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:03.760 you set around the world, you see them pop up 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.160 again and again, and as we mentioned in the last podcast, 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.080 a great source for these two episodes was a book 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.280 by esther In Steinberg titled The Science of Healing Places. 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.760 She devotes one chapter to labyrinth and mazes, but the 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.000 whole book is about how physical environments affect us both 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.800 in body and mind effectively, how they affect the mind 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.680 body through our you know, and this can be negative, 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.200 this can be positive. And and how if you're building 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.280 something like a hospital, you want to take that into account. 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.720 You don't want to build a hospital it feels like 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.000 a maze, if anything. You want to build a hospital 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.400 that feels like a labyrinth, that it's open, right, And 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.560 failing that, you just build a labyrinth in the courtyard, 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.360 which many places do, right, because you have this idea 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.120 of opening space metaphorically and physically so that your brain 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.080 can sort of acclimate itself to that space. Um. As 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.920 you had mentioned the book Healing Spaces, there is a 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:57.000 Harvard cardiologist that Sternberg author talks about. His name is 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.880 Harvey Goldberg, and he says that a lot of the 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:05.240 meditative practices meditative walking, our yoga, or tai chi um 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:10.560 is really about gaming the relaxation response through breathing. And 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.480 he says, quote, I think of it as an unclenching. 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.040 When the system gets overly tense, it's like a tight fist. 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.760 It's locked somehow. By focusing your attention elsewhere, there is 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.240 an unlocking and unclenching of the fist. Now this is 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.880 really important when you think about an act of walking meditation, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.880 but as in a labyrinth, when you're walking around like that, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.640 because you are focusing on something other than yourself and 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:40.360 yet you're allowing your thoughts to unfold naturally, and this 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:45.040 is that contemplative act that labyrinth's encourage. Yeah, so think 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.200 of this when you're actually walking on the path of 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.840 the labyrinth. What are you doing? Why are you feeling relaxed? 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.280 First of all, you're focusing on the path you're having. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.440 You're looking down. Maybe you're looking up a little bit too, 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.400 but then you're you're kind of looking down and watching 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.040 the path that you're walking. There are no walls to 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.600 head you in. It's about following this path on the ground. Secondly, 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.679 because of this, you're moving slower, and because you're moving slower, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.280 you're breathing slower. Also, unlike a maze, your vision is 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.320 not obstructed. You're able to hear and see the world 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.160 around you like you mentioned, and you're you're not having 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:17.800 to depend on you know, landmarks or what have you, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.400 just kind of on autopilot, Yeah, which allows you to 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.359 get into that mental space that is healing. As Sternberg 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.200 and Goldberg and Herbert Benson, who is very much an 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:33.480 authority of meditative thoughts and actually meditation itself. We will 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.360 talk more about this. We're gonna take a quick break. 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.440 We're gonna talk about why labyrinths were built and how 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:43.120 it affects us at the physiological level. 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Go to 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:17.800 stamps dot com inter stuff and start your stamping empire today. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.080 All right, we're back and we're continuing to explore the 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:25.520 idea of labyrinth, which again is the calm, singular path 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.880 that winds you through a space and uh and takes 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.000 you to the other side, as opposed to a maze, 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.560 which is chaotic and confusing and full of stress and 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:36.640 anxiety because you don't know if you're going this way 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.640 or that way, and then you run into dead ends. 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.000 But there are no dead ends in a true labyrinth. 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.440 It's true. And when you look back at some of 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.360 these more ancient labyrinths, like the Nasaca lines, again it 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.520 comes up why why did people make these? What why 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.400 were they built? Why were they created? And certainly a 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:01.160 spiritual reason is present. It's um much possibility for some 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:05.280 of them. Some people think there are astrological reasons behind them. 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.359 And if you look again at Chartreu, which is the 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.800 cathedral in France, again you see evidence that it was 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.040 designed in conjunction with the summer solstice, so that maybe 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:19.120 it had something to do with that. Um. I tend 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.399 to think that if the sunlight is beaming down in 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.000 the middle of a labyrinth on the summer solstice at noon, 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:30.760 that that would be very powerful to churchgoers, particularly if 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.320 they're walking the labyrinth, because it's the idea that this 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.280 path is in tune with celestial dynamics, with the mechanics 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.240 of the universe, right, and that you are in unity 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.560 with nature. Yeah. Like it makes me think back to 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.240 Dante's Inferno again, particularly Dante's Paradise. Paradise is a very 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.480 strictly ordered thing, like the cosmos, whereas when Dante's actually 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.720 in Hell, it's an ordered system, but it's it's a 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.919 lot more confusing. Yeah. And then there's this I like 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.879 this one. There's the dancing theory. Oh yes, this is great. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.439 This takes me back. There was there were like a 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.719 couple of old goofy cartoons. I'm sure Holly would tell 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.639 you could tell me exactly when and where they occur 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.919 in the long list of Disney productions. But there were 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.399 a couple of goofy cry of pop stuff. There are 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.160 a couple of goofy cartoons and one he quit smoking 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.680 and another he was trying to lose weight, I think, 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.879 And they dealt They were really cool. They dealt with 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:26.480 like an adult goofy like dealing with like the demands 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.200 of being like a bachelor. It was weird stuff. I 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.000 have checked it out again. But but there's one where 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.040 he's like trying to learn how to dance, and there's 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:34.960 this kid he gets where you listen to a record, 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.879 and you place these cutouts of feet of on the 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.720 on the floor and then you dance by moving and 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.120 he has like a mannequin with him and you move 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.040 from one these steps to this step, and this teaches 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.760 you how to dance by following the patterns on the floor. 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.920 It's this so that he could now in his bachelorhood 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.760 a woman. Yes, okay, so this is helping kids who 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.720 are seeing their their father who's now a new bachelor. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.560 I think these were and again pop stuff will have 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:03.880 to clear me up in this. I think these were 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:05.680 aimed at These were These were kind of like an 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.679 early Simpsons in a way, because they were they were 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:09.440 kind of aimed at maybe a little bit of kids, 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.880 but more at the adults. But anyway, that the dancing ritual. Yeah, 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.160 and the idea so, so the idea here is that 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.960 labyrinths were potentially not merely this thing that you walk 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.920 on and serenely follow, but you dance through. Because think 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.639 about what dances and I'm not talking like you know, 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:32.680 grinding booty shaking necessarily, but but think of something like 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:36.560 like square dancing, some sort of ritualized dance. Certainly the 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.960 whirling dervishes where there is a pattern that you're following, 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.320 and you're you're giving yourself up to the pattern of 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.879 the dance, to the rhythm of the beat, to the 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.439 You're giving yourself over body and soul to the music 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.560 and the movement, and and and that is in a 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.560 sense of labyrinth you were becoming. You kind of become 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:00.879 the labyrinth. You become the dance, to become the music. 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:05.920 In that becoming, you cannot be this bundle of worries 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.399 and and in troubles that you are the rest of 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.359 the time. Yeah, it's the rhythm of the night. You 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:16.000 leaven all your cares behind right hythm of the night. Yeah, 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.840 I won't do that anymore. So what's interesting about that 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.760 too is that this is uh, not just something that 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.720 is again an act of submission, but perhaps some sort 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.840 of right of passage. This is perhaps something that young 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.040 men who had proved themselves as warriors would go through 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.800 this dance. This is also a fertility right for women 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.800 who would go through these um the labyrinth dancing. And 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.800 again you're talking about syncopated rhythm. We're talking about a 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.600 group activity that would line everybody up. And we talked 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:51.720 before when people are singing together. It's like their their 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.439 neurons are all firing on the same pattern. And uh, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.840 some more thing with these movements, right, think about it 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.560 as the first Congo line. Is it cong or congo? 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:05.360 I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting. In the book, Steinberg 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.240 points out that this is possibly why like early in 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:11.960 church history, like certainly churches came to embrace their labyrinths. St. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.360 Bart's here in Atlanta is not ashamed of their labyrinth. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.400 They're rather proud of it. But in the old days 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.320 there's maybe a little suspicion where the older members of 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:21.440 the church, especially like I don't know about these labyrinths. 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:25.240 There's something kind of not right about them, fancy about them, 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:30.440 you know why, because they have found all sorts of evidence. 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.520 In fact, an intrust can vase from six BC depicts 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.159 not just the dance in the labyrinth, but sexual acts 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.639 going on. So the church kind of was like, m 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:46.160