Hi, I just learned something. Shh. Class in session. Please watch this:
What is this, you ask?
Labyrinth is a classic 80s fantasy film, there’s glitter everywhere, great puppetry, and David Bowie in spandex. It’s utterly amazing. Yet, my love for it goes beyond its glimmering facade. It is in the big moments like the scene above, where the film becomes both moral and fairytale, and us the little children learning our way around the metaphorical labyrinth.
Sarah, the petulant teen-heroine, is looking for a way into the labyrinth. But it’s near impossible, there aren’t any openings! She is frustrated, hitting and kicking brick walls which seemingly go on forever. She is defeated, relinquishing herself to the ground and failure, where she meets a tiny worm. They have the following conversation. The poignancy of the scene isn’t lost on me, let’s see the characters for what they are.
Sarah (you/me/anyone): “I have to solve this labyrinth, but there aren’t any turns or any openings or anything!”
The Worm (the universe/reality/god): “Well you ain’t looking right! It’s full of openings, its just you ain’t seen them!”
The labyrinth represents our perceived reality, the world, the universe, etc. The Worm lives in the labyrinth so he knows his way around, here he represents spirit, source, or a guide. But Sarah, a human, is frustrated and angry and hopeless. She negates the possibility of his vision of the labyrinth.
Sarah: “Where are they?”
The Worm: “There’s one just across there. It’s right in front of you!”
Sarah: “No, there isn’t. There isn’t an opening.”
It’s pretty hilarious how quickly Sarah disregards the Worm’s advice. It’s almost a childlike reply, haughty and unthinking. We are often very much like that with the universe. We get in our on way and the opening is right in front of us!
I also see the scene as the Worm being a stand in for our own intuition. He is the tiny voice inside telling Sarah the truth, but she is too committed to her own reality to see it otherwise. We are far too often committed to our own reality, one of losing, suffering, or failing. We only see things as we are, not as they are. Sarah can’t see what’s right in front of her any more than we can.
The Worm: “[laughs] Of course there is! You try walking through it, you’ll see what I mean.”
Sarah: “What? That’s just wall. There’s no way through.”
We are often offered possibilities and invitations only to pout and be stubborn about them. “I can’t see it therefore it’s not there!” We get hung up on what we can and can’t see. Which is what the Worm rightly points out: “you can’t take anything for granted here!” And yes you cannot take anything for granted in the Labyrinth, that’s one of the rules of the world, sure. But the labyrinth metaphor extends, I’d say you can’t take anything for granted here too, here being life, here being your perceived reality.
Key word is perceived. Nothing is set in stone. One sees the day wet and cold, the other fresh and rainy. One sees a depressing day because of the rain, the other a romantic day because of the rain. There’s no right answer here. Perception is everything. Think of eyeglasses in the same vein. If I can’t see something far away, I might be able to see it with the right glasses, the right prescription. Prescription and perception are eerily similar in sound. Perhaps there is something to be said that we only need to change our glasses and the world turns a different color. I was often scolded for seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses, but it’s true! True to me, at least. The world can be beautiful, and sweet, and magical if we are using the right shade to see it with.
But let’s return to Sarah and the Worm, I want to emphasize what he actually tells her: “You try walking through it, you’ll see what I mean”. We, as humans, often only learn by experience. The Universe speaks in a similar manner, we only learn from doing, experiences, lessons. “Try walking through it,” it says. Because once we walk through it, through our perceived reality, we encounter a new one.
My current diary is named after a potent dream I had, a dream in which a similar scene plays out. I was in front of a mirror and a voice spoke to me: “You can go through it.” Before I could protest, I remembered my name. Alice, I thought. Yes, of course I can walk through the looking glass! And I did! I pressed my hand to the glass and it bended forward. My hand went through and very soon my whole body was on the other side. I walked through the glass just like Sarah through her maze. Because a voice said I could and I listened.
I admit, in dreams it is easier to listen to the Worm, the inner voice speaking to us, the ghostly angel watching over us. But in reality, it can be a little more difficult. There’s more to lose or gain, our thinking mind overthinking every action, and the pressure of shadows, trauma, or societal ideals. Still, I think the moral stands. You can walk through that looking glass, whatever your looking glass might be. Wherever you are stuck, there are currently multiple openings. “It’s right in front of you!” as the Worm says.
I’m writing this for you. I’m writing this for me. There’s an opening right in front you and me, one we cannot see. And we can walk through that brick wall of our personal labyrinth, no need to be named Alice.
What I wrote about dreams:“I do this because I dreamt it. I must perform all acts I dream of if possible, sometimes even the wild ones seem attainable.” The wild ones are attainable, on the other side of the labyrinth…