Random thoughts on labyrinths and spirals

The labyrinth works as a truncation of the quest phase of myth. The quest itself becomes or is representative of the labyrinth. While labyrinths are more often metaphorical than literal, the psychological implications are the same for each.

The connection of the concept of labyrinth with that of the spiral is inherent, yet while the spiral is a relatively predictable pattern and the labyrinth is determinedly mysterious in its wendings, the predictability of the spiral is still associated with the idea of spiraling down into madness, chaos, fear, and uncontrollability, and the unmapped paths of the labyrinth suggest that somewhere in them lies a definitive goal, a final stopping place, the reaching of a reachable objective, thus implying order and linearity. Illogically, the form of each is the antithesis of its actual or connotative meaning and conclusion. The spiral is a naturally occurring concept and image, while the labyrinth is man-made, consciously designed and thus knowable. Both are often associated with downward movement, but what this means, I don’t yet know.