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Labyrinths' Path to Tranquility
Excerpt from an article by Bill Reinert in The Columbian, July 26, 2009.
Eunice Schroeder was grappling with a personal crisis 13 years ago when a friend suggested that walking a labyrinth might focus her thoughts and give her a respite from her troubles.
"Why would I want to do that?"
Putting her qualms aside, Schroeder visited a labyrinth in The Dalles, Ore. She watched other people as she pondered entering the gently curving path, which, like her own life, was punctuated by twists and turns. A young woman, attempting to soothe a bawling infant in her arms, caught her eye. Once the woman entered the path, the baby fell silent and remained so while her mother walked the entire labyrinth.
While she recalls little of her own experience that day, other than intense emotion and focus, Schroeder said of the mother and child, "That I remembered!"
Something mysterious had transpired. It had caused her to ask, "Why did it affect me so powerfully?"
That question spurred a personal journey that led Schroeder to found Sacred Journey Ministries of Vancouver.
Labyrinths now are found inside and around cathedrals and churches throughout the world. Two in Vancouver in which Schroeder served as a consultant are at First Congregational Church and Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church.
Schroeder has noticed more interest in "all things contemplative and spiritual" since the advent of the nation's recent economic turbulence.
"This is all a giant metaphor," Schroeder concluded. "Are you in control or are you being led?"