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Kobayashi Maru and Mythical Relevance - Part 2

Posted Jan 29, 10:00 AM | 1 comments | by Editor | Link

By Virgil Vaduva:

continued from part one ...

Prayer and Labyrinths

In that same vein of thinking, someone brought to my attention the criticism coming from some regarding the re-emerging practice and use of the prayer labyrinth within Christianity. It appears that especially American Christians are somewhat uninformed about the Christian use of the prayer labyrinth. Like several other Christian practices, the prayer labyrinth is rooted in Greek mythology. The myth of the Minoan labyrinth tells the story of Minos the king of Crete who created a labyrinth in which he placed the Minotaur, a half man and half bull monster. After Crete conquered Athens, every year seven young people from Athens would be sent into the labyrinth to be killed by the Minotaur. But one year, Theseus, the Athenian hero entered the labyrinth and killed the Minotaur, putting a stop to Athen’s pain.

The Greeks had deep symbolism associated with the story of Minos’ labyrinth. The annual sacrifice of young people indicated a continuous conflict that carries a costly toll of guilt and fear.⁶ It is evident that early Christians saw something very beneficial in this story and took on the creation of cross-like labyrinths across churches and cathedrals in Europe. Early on, when pilgrimage to Jerusalem was a nearly salvific event in a believer’s life, those unable to afford or make the trip substituted walking the prayer labyrinth with their pilgrimage to the holy city. Mircea Eliade writes:

It is interesting, from this point of view, to recall some of the popular names of labyrinths currently used in Europe, like the Scandinavian “Ruins of Jerusalem,” “City of Niniveh,” “Walls of Jericho,” and “Babylon,” as well as the frequent names meaning “the castle of Troy,” like Trojin, Trojeburg, Troburg, Treiborf, Truberslot, and so forth. This suggests that popular imagination sees the labyrinth as the symbol of a legendary town doomed to destruction. The labyrinths that can still be seen on the floor of European churches and cathedrals, where penitents used to walk on their knees as the equivalent of a pilgrimage to the holy places were called other names, among other names, Le Lieue De Jerusalem (“the Jerusalem mile”). We find them a clear symbol of the archetypal town, taken now as the promised celestial bride, the Heavenly Jerusalem glorified by the apostle John, as opposed to the doomed City of Destruction of the biblical apocalypse.⁷

Here we have at one extreme the ancient Christian symbolizing the presence of the mythical New Jerusalem on earth through the use of the prayer labyrinth embedded in the floor of the Notre Dame Cathedral (which has one of the most famous prayer labyrinths in the world), and using the prayer labyrinth as a walk of penitence that makes him identify with his Savior; and at the other extreme we find the somewhat enlightened and perhaps even a bit arrogant modern Christian, culturally disconnected from the use and practice of the prayer labyrinth, or perhaps even deride its use and symbolism, criticizing something he does not understand; the disconnect is powerful. Nida offers some very helpful advice in this context.

When encountering new cultures, customs or people, a Christian should⁸:

a. Adapt oneself to local customs of etiquette.
b. Show a vital interest in the beliefs of others.
c. Seek ways to heal tender susceptibilities and feelings.
d. Seek to find matters of essential agreement and identity of attitudes between people of different cultural background.

Nida’s advice is crucial to our interaction not just with critics, but those who are completely outside of our circles of interest. He quotes Redfield in defining cultural relativism: “Cultural relativism means that the values expressed in any culture are to be both understood and themselves valued only according to the way the people who carry that culture see things.”⁹ He also gives comparative examples to illustrate how westerners often miss the point by superficially making judgment calls on other cultures and their practices: British troops were infuriated when they entered Sudan because local chiefs refused to stand in the presence of British officers; yet they failed to realize that in the Shilluks culture only the king may stand, and the highest display of respect was paid by remaining seated.¹⁰

The example of the Chols of southern Mexico is even more surprising, in that when they were told the sad story of John the Baptist and his death they “broke in riotous laughter” to the shock and dismay of the missionaries. However the missionaries soon learned that it is customary for the Chols to laugh when hearing tragic or sad news, explaining that upon hearing John’s story “they just had to laugh to keep themselves from crying.”¹¹ The examples are numerous and often un-winnable, but in light of apparent impossibilities, there are some things that may help us reframe the way we view other people, cultures and behaviors should we understand their implications¹²:

a. The behavior of people is not haphazard, but conforms to a narrative or mythical pattern.
b. The parts of the pattern of behavior are interrelated.
c. The life of a people may be oriented in many different directions.

This is part two of a three-part article:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

⁶ Mircea Eliade, Encyclopedia of Religions Vol. 8, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, p. 412.
⁷ Ibid. p. 414.
⁸ Eugene A. Nida, Customs and Cultures, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and Evanston, p. 71-72
⁹ Robert Redfield, The Primitive World and its Transformation, Cornell University Press, 1953, Ithaca p. 144.
¹⁰ Eugene A. Nida, Customs and Cultures, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and Evanston, p. 21
¹¹ Ibid. p. 4
¹² Ibid. p. 52

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Virgil Vaduva is the Dayton, Ohio, cohort coordinator. Originally from Romania, he grew up in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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