1A. Philosophy in
labyrinths
The
intension with my website is to promote the use of the beautiful labyrinths as
decorating pavements for squares and places. So maybe you should leave this
philosophic page out until after you have made your labyrinth pavement. Back to
summary.
Contents for figures:
Fig. ph3: Tragliatella wine pitcher
Fig. ph4: Ariadne Pagan Labyrinth
Fig.
ph5: Impenetrable and Inextricable Ariadne Labyrinth
Fig. ph6:
Contemporary Ariadne Dance Labyrinth
Courage to enter the labyrinth
Ariadne
gave Theseus a ball of yarn thread so that he any
time could find his way out of the labyrinth, and she also gave him a ball of
pitch to throw into the gap of the roaring monster to seal its attacking gap
and confuse its attentiveness. Thus prepared with a life line of safe retreat
in one hand and a smart sticky attack weapon in the other hand Theseus overcame the monster. Ariadne
gave Theseus the security of having the well known
world and background to rely on in one hand, and the bravery to encounter the
dangerous unknown future world in the other hand, so that he as a bold man
could enter the labyrinth with self confidence, instead of letting the mystery
of an unknown labyrinth humiliating pacify him and scare him to death. The
monster is dreadful, but it is the fear to enter the labyrinth and the fear
from around every corner when walking the labyrinth that is killing for the
unprepared.
The
classical literature (e.g. Plinius) describes 3
important labyrinths besides the Crete Labyrinth:
The Crete Minotauros Labyrinth, destroyed about 1400 BC, was somewhat
copied after the 100 times bigger Egyptian Labyrinth.
Herodot
visited the big 3 dimensional labyrinth in
Building of
the Etruscan Labyrinth (= Italian Labyrinth) “exhausted the resources of a
kingdom”.
The Lemnos Labyrinth had 150 columns of extraordinary beautiful
and precise construction.
Those 4
labyrinths are maybe more like a myth than exact reality. I have the impression
that they were magnificent buildings where you could walk from room to room and
forget where you were, and in this way it was named a labyrinth with the
meanings of this word of also today.
The
mysterious legend of the Minotauros Labyrinth on
Vergil (=Virgil) (70 – 19 BC) is the great
Roman author of influential labyrinthine literature, with the epos Æneis (=Aeneid) (“human history is an unending series
of labyrinths …”).
Boëthius (480 - 524), while in prison with a
death penalty wrote Consolation of
Philosophy (“Ariadne is an image of the labyrinth
and its transcendence …”).
Dante (1265 - 1321), as a refugee in
Labyrinthine
literature is intensively treated by Doob in his book The
Idea of the Labyrinth, 1990.
One lane to the goal or multiple choice lanes
Until about
1500 all labyrinths pictured in art had unbranched
lanes, no internal choices or false turnings, just one lane to the goal. At the
same time the literature described the labyrinth as a maze with multiple
choices and blind lanes, which needed an ariadne
thread to penetrate and return from. This seems to be a contradiction and
puzzles some writers.
I am not
very concerned with this contradiction between visual art and literature. It
was difficult for the people of ancient time to make 2-dimensional pictures of
3-dimensional structures so Plinius (=Pliny) did not
make like ground plans of the big Egyptian Labyrinth. And when painting or
drawing a labyrinth which by nature is cultic I believe that the drawing partly
should be understood as a symbol for the labyrinth more than a documentation.
Another
point is that a labyrinth of those days should not be perceived with the
rational sense we use today, with us having lots of electric light in every
corner. When our forefathers with superstition in mind walked a labyrinth with unbranched lanes they felt a lot of mystique: what will
happen around the next corner, will they be able to and know how to return?
This is like when you as a child walked scarred in a dark attic or dark barn.
If you do not dare to return the same way as you entered or in your
bewilderment forget what is back and forth then you are lost as much here as in
a multiple choice labyrinth (= a maze in modern English).
A labyrinth
is both dynamic and static. It is dynamic from the labyrinth walker’s view
whose vision is constricted to the next few steps ahead, and it is static for
the onlooker who sees the whole pattern of the labyrinth from above. The
labyrinth may be perceived as a circuitous path to a goal or as a pattern of
art, and the aim in our design is to make both best possible.
Because the
labyrinth is viewed so different by the person walking the lane and the person
seeing the pattern from above, the labyrinth incorporates both order and
disorder, clarity and confusion, artistry and chaos, as Doob
says it. A labyrinth is planned chaos. Walking the simple troja
1 labyrinth in a dance is like the life. You first walk in one direction,
straight or circular, with its fortune and its misfortune. Then you make a
sharp turn to move in the other direction looking for better fortune. Then you
change direction again still with new hope.
Life can
maybe also be pictured like the small
Walking a labyrinth? Like a quadrille dance?
What fun
can it be to walk a simple labyrinth where there is only one unbranched foreseeable lane and where maybe even the 4
quadrants are alike as in the roma labyrinths? This
question is sometimes asked by clever minded people that rush through the
labyrinth with their logics and forget to enjoy a slow walk with their
feelings.
I have had
a big interest in folk music and folk dancing, see my website http://mejlhede.dk/oldfolkdance/. An enjoyable
folk dance could be a Danish quadrille dance (= square dance). 4 couples stand
in a square ready to start. Then the musicians with visible great joy play the
music 6 times, and the merry dancers enthusiastically dance the dance 6 times
with well-known slight variations at one line of the music. When this is all
over the 4 couples only stand in the same way as at the start, so apparently
nothing has been achieved? ?
Ariadne
gave Theseus a ball of yarn for him to find his way in
the labyrinth. She got the yarn from unravelling her robe. This yarn thread is
special as it can lead you safe through a complicated labyrinth. So Ariadne’s thread of guidance is very important in life
(which is a labyrinth), and in philosophy (even more a labyrinth). This very
special yarn makes Ariadne’s clothes very special.
Her clothes are thus labyrinthine.
Fig. ph1: Ariadne
Labyrinth 1
A combined
The
labyrinth is combined of a troja 1 with a spiral in
the middle from fig.
tr5, + an enlarged roma Si11-5rp3-1 from fig. r16 detail
U, + a much enlarged multiple choice chartres
Si12-2ch5F2-1 from fig.
ch7.
The
labyrinth in detail D, E, H has had the troja
labyrinth stretched for lopsidedness like in fig. tr8, and
from an artistic point of view (the static observer from above) I find this
labyrinth the more beautiful, more calm and symmetric.
A labyrinth
combined of 4 complete labyrinths can hardly be smaller than showed here. The
outer
Ariadne
is the most important person in labyrinth philosophy. She is the one that can
help Theseus, can help you through the labyrinths in
your life. She is all through comprised of the idea of the labyrinth, in her
conscious and unconscious mind, in her body, and in her clothes. This vague
broad metaphoric description in words of Ariadne as a
labyrinth in 4 segments is here transposed into direct visual art to the shown
confined square labyrinth in fig. ph1:
- The outer
- The next roma
labyrinth is Ariadne’s body.
- The next troja
labyrinth is Ariadne’s conscious mind.
- And the final inner spiral, the
simple labyrinth, is Ariadne’s unconscious mind,
her soul.
The
labyrinth combined of 4 labyrinths shows Ariadne as a
total individual:
- The outer
- The body of Ariadne,
the nature given material personality, is a simple roma
labyrinth. With the 4 radial lanes in the quadrant lines the labyrinth
wanderer each time believes that he is right away penetrating this
labyrinth segment, only to find that he in waving form is led towards the
outside again. It is laborious to get to the mind of Ariadne
and perseverance is a necessary character to succeed.
- The inner labyrinth (leading to
the spiral) is Ariadne’s mind, the immaterial
personality, and this labyrinth segment is a troja
labyrinth, the worldwide ancient labyrinth that dates back to the time
when humanity evolved to get a philosophic mind and started to think of
the structures of the universe. The labyrinthine movement here is first
one way around and then the other way all around, so that the subject in
consideration in Ariadne’s mind is thoroughly
contemplated.
- At the centre of the labyrinth
there is a small simple spiral, the metaphor for Ariadne’s
clean honest unconscious mind, her soul, with her young true genuine love
to Theseus, (until he later abandoned her on
Many more Ariadne labyrinths can be designed, and I shall here show
an example, with the legendary troja 2 labyrinth for Ariadne’s clever mind:
Fig. ph2: Ariadne
Labyrinth 2
A combined
The
labyrinth is combined of a troja
2 with a spiral in the middle like it is done for troja
1 in fig. tr5,
+ an enlarged roma Si11-3rp5-1 from fig. r16 detail
S, + a much enlarged multiple choice chartres
Si12-2ch5F2-1 from fig.
ch7.
The round
form is with circular outer
For the use
as a pavement this is getting to be a rather big labyrinth: with 1 meter wide
lanes the total length of labyrinth lanes to walk exceeds 1 kilometre,
depending on your luck with the outer multiple choice
Clever Ariadne, who was ready to offer her clothes to give Theseus the important guiding thread, ready to help mankind
find its way through the inextricable labyrinth of life, and overcome the minotauros, subdue the dangers, she is admirable. But this undressing young lady of dubious
heritage does not get this admiration in Christianity. So it was not female Ariadne but male Theseus that got
to be the labyrinthine person in Christianity.
The
conception that life is a labyrinth is found already in Roman writing (Seneca
ca. 50 AD) and is part of early Christianity and medieval Christianity (Gregorius of Nyssa ca. 350). A labyrinth is impenetrable
and inextricable, i.e. without guidance it is very difficult to penetrate to
the centre where you find the divine blessing in one type of labyrinth in life,
and it is very difficult to find your way out in e.g. the labyrinth you have to
pass in death from life to Paradise. Only Jesus as Christ-Theseus
can lead you the right way through the complicated circuitous labyrinth of
life, a labyrinth filled with false turnings at multiple choices and blind
lanes (a multicursal labyrinth). Only by following
the path of baptism can one escape the labyrinth of death, of erring life, and
of human ignorance. So labyrinths are found on baptismal fonts and as frescos
in medieval
churches. These labyrinths of visual art are all unicursal
(with no false choices), because they are (in my opinion) meant to show only
the right single lane as lead by Christ-Theseus as
harrower of hell and charter of a safe path to salvation.
Fig. ph3: Tragliatella
wine pitcher
Troja 2 labyrinth on an Etruscan jug or wine pitcher from 630 BC; part of
the decoration. In the labyrinth there is written the name Troja (TRVIA mirrored). In front of the horsemen there are
many marching soldiers (not shown here).
The picture
is usually interpreted as showing the game of Troja
as later performed and described by the Romans. Or it is described as the
Cretan Labyrinth with Theseus’s successful journey,
see Kern’s book with the whole depiction and description. The couples to the
right (often not included in reproductions) are then explained as Theseus and Ariadne after Theseus was extricated from the labyrinth using Ariadnes yarn thread from her unravelled robe.
Ariadne’s
mother, maybe somewhat like in the lower depicted position, had to partly hide
her body in cowhides to lure the holy bull to mate her when she conceived the Minotauros. The meeting of the Holy Spirit in Christianity
with Virgin Maria getting divine pregnant is much different.
The
horsemen have birds on their shields to show that they can escape this
labyrinth as easy as Daidalos and his son Icaros did by making wings and fly out. On the first horse
a deformed being or person is sitting behind the horseman, a monstrosity, a
monster or minotauros removed from its refuge in the
labyrinth, (my opinion).
The female
with the highest position in Christianity is Virgin Maria (Mary), mother of
Christ. Her moderate position was later much reduced in Protestantism. When
Virgin Maria had given birth to her child in Bethlehem she could tell her
fiancé Joseph that the child was not his, but as conveyed her at a meeting she
had had with the Holy Spirit the child’s father was God in Heaven.
In one
family out of 1000 there is an abnormality given by birth, and in one out of
100,000 there is a very serious abnormality, a monstrosity. The Danish hymn
writer Brorson (ca. 1750) had such a family member
living locked up in a cottage behind his house, from where Brorson
often for instance at night could hear the person yell strange sounds. Today
such abnormal persons are locked away in institutions. Ariadne
had such an abnormal monstrous brother: the minotauros
in the labyrinth.
At that
time on Crete, almost 2000 years before Christ was born, the bull was holy, had
god like position. Ariadne’s mother Pasiphae had with special help of Daidalos
mated with such a bull while her husband King Minos
was away to punish Athens. So the child she gave birth to was a monstrosity
with a head like a bull, the Minotauros. With this
story told, King Minos was free of being the
responsible father and he had Minotauros put away in
this labyrinth build for the purpose by Daidalos,
this genius master builder from Athens. After Ariadne’s
extrication of Theseus from the labyrinth King Minos imprisoned Daidalos and his
son Icaros in the labyrinth and they could only find
their way out by making wings and fly away, by which Icaros
despite the warnings of his father flew too close to the sun so that the wax
holding his feathers melted and he fell into the sea.
Fig. ph4: Ariadne
Pagan Labyrinth
A combined chartres, roma, and troja labyrinth. A chartres 5
lane, with a roma 5 lane inside, with a troja 9 lane inside, with a spiral 1 lane inside at the
centre.
The
labyrinth is combined of a troja 2 multiple choice
from fig. tr4
with a spiral in the middle like it is done for troja
1 in fig. tr5,
+ an enlarged and hollowed roma Si17-1rp9-1 from fig. r5, + a much
enlarged multiple choice chartres Si12-2ch5F2-1 from fig. ch7.
Ariadne’s
mind is here the mind of a pagan because the labyrinth showing her mind is a
multiple choice labyrinth (= multicursal). A
Christian labyrinth is unicursal (no false choices)
showing only the right lane, the lane led by Jesus as Christ-Theseus.
Impenetrable and inextricable labyrinth – also
in visual art
In
philosophy and in religion with early and medieval Christianity an important
issue is the impenetrable labyrinth that you cannot enter or penetrate to the
centre and the labyrinth that you cannot find your way out of, cannot
extricate. The labyrinth of death is such a labyrinth you have to pass from
life to paradise, a labyrinth that can only be passed with the right guidance.
As pointed out above this labyrinth should be understood in a no stringent
logic manner, but you have to “play along with the game” and consider a
labyrinth philosophically as very difficult and impenetrable and inextricable
despite its simple form when shown in visual art.
For a multicursal labyrinth, i.e. a labyrinth with multiple
choice lanes and blind lanes, an old rule is, that you can always get through
the labyrinth (penetrate it and extricate it) by continuously having a wall on
your left side (or alternatively your right side). Enter the blind lane by
having the wall to the left and you will soon exit it again and continue your
correct journey on the main lane. Using this rule on the troja
2B multicursal labyrinth shown in fig. e3
detail A and described in fig. tr4 detail B
you see it works fine both in and out whether you use your left or your right
hand. So this labyrinth is in this way not so impenetrable after all. The
labyrinth is also shown in brown colour here above as Ariadne’s
mind in fig.
ph4.
But this
simple rule does not work for the simple multicursal
A small
labyrinth as ch5F will of course not cause problems for the lane-walker when
placed as the entrance labyrinth as above in fig. ph4.
For showing Ariadne as a labyrinth I have chosen the
historic oldest labyrinths in the middle and the youngest as her clothes. But
if we place the multicursal ch5F labyrinth inside the
roma labyrinth as shown below in fig. ph5 then the
right way to the goal may be considered more confusing when the lane-walker is
sent back the way he passed earlier.
Fig. ph5: Impenetrable and Inextricable Ariadne Labyrinth
A combined roma, chartres, and troja labyrinth. A roma 3 lane,
with a chartres 5 lane inside, with a troja 9 lane inside, with a spiral 1 lane inside at the
centre.
The
labyrinth is combined of a troja
2 with a spiral in the middle like it is done for troja
1 in fig. tr5,
+ an enlarged and multiple choice chartres
Si12-2ch5F2-1 from fig.
ch7, + a much enlarged hollowed roma Si11-5rp3-1
from fig. r16
Ariadne’s
body labyrinth (in green in detail A) is here impenetrable from the outside and
inextricable from within using the simple rule for multicursal
labyrinths (= mazes) telling you to follow your left hand all the way (or your
right hand).
No access - even with
Christ-Theseus guidance
The last
figure of this section (fig. ph6) will be a dance labyrinth, because originally
labyrinth = dance. I have chosen a labyrinth of the special troja
type that can be designed with just 1 angle (or 2 or 3) instead of 4 angles as
in troja 2. This labyrinth, troja
1¼N, has a closed loop lane without access. I do not know if it is described in
literature. But if I now should continue the line of medieval religious
characterized philosophy I could say that here we have a labyrinth so
impenetrable that you can no way get access to part of the labyrinth lane even
with the superior guidance of Christ-Theseus. So
there is a part of the world so sacred that no man can ever get access to it.
Fig. ph6: Contemporary Ariadne
Dance Labyrinth
A special “troja labyrinth”, a troja 1 with
1 extra angle “7 minutes past North” on the drawing, so I call it troja 1¼N.
Note: this
is not a labyrinth of Ariadne like above in fig. ph1
- 5, but a labyrinth for Ariadne to dance in. And
note: the scale of the drawing here in troja is twice
that of e.g. fig ph5.
Part of the
labyrinth has a closed loop lane without access. So the figure cannot be called
a labyrinth according to how a labyrinth is defined by many specialists.
This
“labyrinth” is a proposal for performing a dance in a labyrinth for folk
dancers of today in the groups where the (several) musicians usually stand in
the middle of the ballroom, (like at the Technical University in Copenhagen,
see photos on my website http://mejlhede.dk/oldfolkdance/
dance 19 and 15). The musicians should then stand in the blue not accessible
lanes of this “labyrinth”, and the dancers dance the green outer lanes in a
long chain heading for the goal in the centre. This “labyrinth” here is one of
the more than 50 troja labyrinth like figures that can be made “in
between” troja 1 and troja
3. It is a small labyrinth fit for groups that in between other dances plan to
dance (slow moving) labyrinthine for about 5 minutes. There are bigger “troja labyrinths” of this type, for a bigger all evening
labyrinth dance or for faster (running) dances.
In our type
of old folk dances for pleasure adapted for today I feel that it is not always
necessary to let the chain dance all the way back out of the circuitous
labyrinth, but after reaching the goal in the centre the chain can “break out”
to the periphery to form a closed circle ready for the next folk dance of a
different type. Except for the emphasis here of reaching the goal in the centre
a dance figure somewhat like this has often been danced in many groups in
For the
Roman historians a labyrinth could be a big complicated building, as well as
the small Roman floor mosaic labyrinths near the entrance of a villa. But the
very old word labyrinth (labyrinthos) originally
denoted a dance whose path was determined by a special graphic pattern (that of
a labyrinth). Homer writes (in his Iliad) that Daidalos
made a dance place for Ariadne with the dance path
inlaid (e.g. like the green lane in fig. ph6, or more probably troja
2).