Westworld – Maze Is A Labyrinth

Published April 23, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

This is not directly relevant to this season but I recently discovered a labyrinth on the grounds of local religious college that looked very similar to the “maze” in Westworld. This made me curious so I decided to do a little research.

Apparently labyrinths have very spiritual meanings and are used by many religious orders (forgive my ignorance if you were already aware of this but I certainly wasn’t). Stepping into a labyrinth is symbolic of accepting the path that God has put us on and trying to find God along the way.

In some of the online sources discussing labyrinths, they discuss how mazes are often confused for labyrinths. However, labyrinths are not puzzles to be solved (this is the way that the Man in Black interprets the symbol on the show). Mazes require using logic to divine the proper path to the center or out of the maze. Labyrinths, on the other hand, have only a single path. The only choice in a labyrinth is whether or not to enter.

Choosing to enter the labyrinth is choosing to walk the spiritual path or a path of self-discovery. Your mind only needs to be receptive to what you encounter on the journey and does require active decision making. You must have faith and trust in the journey. I believe it is somewhat like when people say “I was put on this Earth to do _____”. They accept a path and purpose laid out before them and, having done so, voluntarily make it part of their identity. Acceptance of their “role” is a choice.

I suppose its possible that the Man In Black may have just realized all of this in the last episode when he states “I know what I need to do” and “I’m going to save the world” but I’m not sure what his intent is at this point.

Anyway, no need to discuss this on the Telegraph just hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Ken C.

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