Labyrinth creates time for reflection

Russell Crawford, a Pitt student and retired police officer who witnessed the Sept. 11,… Russell Crawford, a Pitt student and retired police officer who witnessed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, took time yesterday to remember the fifth anniversary of an event he said he will never forget. After meditating through a “labyrinth walk,” he wrote down his only prayer on an index card: “Peace in the world.”

“There’s a lot of sadness in my heart,” he said after he pinned his card to the clothesline.

Yesterday, the University of Pittsburgh Association of Chaplains, along with other campus faith organizations, invited the Pittsburgh community to observe the anniversary of the terrorist attacks by taking a moment to walk through a 24-foot labyrinth outside of the Cathedral of Learning.

A labyrinth walk is a ritual form of meditation and prayer that dates back thousands of years. Labyrinths have appeared in diverse cultures around the world from Crete to native America.

The labyrinth set up on the Cathedral lawn was a replica of the one seen at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, which was built around 1200. According to lessons4living.com, there are no false trails in the labyrinth, only one path that leads you to the center and back out.

Devon Wood, registry representative of UPAC and campus ministry coordinator for the Unitarian Universalist Community on campus, said that the day’s labyrinth walk encouraged people of all faiths to reflect on the events of September 11, 2001, and what is happening in the world.

“It’s a nice way, no matter what faith or no faith you are, to give you a chance to think,” she said. “We can be diverse without being divided.”

Pitt student Pat Flynn walked the labyrinth twice yesterday and offered prayers for lives lost, but also to the terrorists and Iraqi people. During his walk, he said that he envisioned love in the middle of the labyrinth and hate on the outside. As he meditated in the middle circle, he released love to overcome the hatred.

“It just saddens me that there is so much hate in the world,” said Flynn, who practices some form of Buddhist inspired meditation each day.

As other students rushed by the labyrinth and into the Cathedral, Flynn observed the importance that meditation holds in his everyday routine.

“If you spend a minute of your day [meditating], it makes all of your problems seem mundane and unimportant,” he said.

“It’s amazing what a couple minutes can do.”

Flynn is not the only one who believes that students would benefit from more spirituality.

John Wilds, Pitt’s assistant vice chancellor of Community Relations, said that he asked the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy to consider constructing a permanent labyrinth in Schenley Plaza. Lynn Coghill, a faculty member of Pitt’s School of Social Work, came up with this idea.

According to Wilds, a labyrinth would encourage people to reflect on their concerns in life, such as “how to get through finals week.”

Flynn said that if they were to construct a labyrinth in Schenley Plaza he would be there every day.

Those who walked the labyrinth contributed to a special clothesline provided by UPAC for the Pittsburgh community to write their thoughts, prayers and petitions. Some were simple promises to do good deeds, such as opening the door for someone and vowing to tutor a student for a semester, but others brought more complex prayers and requests, like Crawford’s plea for world peace.

Some cards read: “I will seek compassionately to understand my nation,” “I will donate more of my time to charities and organizations” and “I will continue to pray for peace in our world and the comfort of those who are still hurting.”

Walking a labyrinth for the first time, Crawford said that he was able to observe the day of the terrorist attacks and reflect on what is happening in the world today. He said his first-hand experience of Sept. 11, 2001, often causes him post-traumatic stress, but being active in school helps him cope with it.

“It’s different when you are able to see [9/11] than just learning about it,” he said.

Crawford, who also works for the Pitt Police, said he believes it is critical to have an understanding of what is happening and to take time to remember those who lost their lives.

Pitt student Raquel Hoffman, who walked the labyrinth after Crawford, said she prayed for the lives lost.

“I think it served its purpose,” she said. “Hopefully people don’t walk away from this and say, ‘That was stupid’.”

While some experienced the labyrinth walk for the first time, others approached it with familiarity.

David Herndon, a minister at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, completed a labyrinth walk in Battery Park in New York not far from the World Trade Center site. He said at first he was skeptical of it, but after the journey he found it to have a calming effect on him.

“It forces you to slow down, think and reflect,” he said.

Within those couple minutes of walking the labyrinth, Crawford realized that it seemed like there would be no ending point.

Eventually, he came to one.