The Muddy Labyrinth

Labyrinths, created on ancient patterns dating back 6000 years, are a hot draw for those seeking spiritual healing. Naaman, the Syrian bureaucrat, was on a labyrinthian journey of his own which took him reluctantly from his familiar surroundings to a prophetic practitioner of alternative medicine in Israel.

Mazes.

Normally we try to avoid any sort of a maze, anything that leads to confusion and despair. They might be great for rats, but not for people. Certainly not for kings, princes or politicians. Not for someone as important as Namaan. Yet, this is precisely where the poor man of our story finds himself: in a maze, a labyrinth, a puzzle, conundrum, befuddlement.

Today, mazes are hot. Labyrinths, created on ancient patterns dating back 6,000 years, are appearing all over the country. They've been mowed and shaped in fields, painted on parking lots, laid out in back yards, and installed in church foyers and cathedral naves. A-maze-ing, no?

Many of them are based on the famous pattern of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France, still visible today. Those who walk the labyrinths testify that the experience evokes healing and self-knowledge, serenity and anxiety reduction. "If you walk it with the right frame of mind, I think you're going to be a different person when you come out...