The mythical narrative is deep
Theseus and the Minotaur
precisely because it contains a level of meaning that initially eludes the
48 The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021) cites Theocritus (21.11) for a meaning of reasoner’s grasp. This makes it impossible to rest; the story forces thought
into a question.
Have you ever wondered how, if a labyrinth only has one path in and out, Thesus could become lost in one?
Myths can look as simple as a spiral, but when you enter into them they draw you deeper into meaning and the understanding of meaning itself.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the game of D&D and the genre of fantasy role playing has enduring popularity. To work with the complexity of life we play games. Certainly for Christians there are many resonant features.
Hero’s enter a dungeon, face death, bring back treasure. The darker aspects of human being are drawn out into the open, can be encountered, and then the situation is (usually) resolved. Does this sound familiar?
Could a labyrinth be a “valley of the shadow of death”? Our hope of salvation could be the thread which guides us through. The Holy Spirit, like Ariadne, providing a thread to follow.
What does the story of Robert the Bruce hiding in his cave while a spider spins her thread share with this Myth?
What fear or discomfort lurks at the core of your being, Minotaur like, and is there an Ariadne waiting with a slender thread waiting to help – or have you left her on an island somewhere?
For a lunchtime contemplation of Myth, Labyrinths, and the story of Theseus here is the article which inspired this post: