Clues: The Thread You Follow Through The Labyrinth of Life

“Labyrinth” by Kayla Parker

Walk the maze
within your heart: guide your steps into its questioning curves.
This labyrinth is a puzzle leading you deeper into your own truths.
Listen in the twists and turns.
Listen in the openness within all searching.
Listen: a wisdom within you calls to a wisdom beyond you and in that dialogue lies peace.

It has been quite a week; it’s been a busy week. I have been very much involved right in the stream of life. Whilst I’ve been swimming in the stream I have felt as though the ears of my ears and have been wide awake and the eyes of my eyes side open. It has felt as if the soul of life has been communicating with my life, not loudly, but gently and persistently.

I have conducted two funerals in the chapel this week, both were of friends for many years. One of whom became a much loved member of the Dunham Road congregation, Liz. Both funerals had moments, unexpected ones, that have awakened something in me and others, speaking from that deeper soul. On Monday at Jon’s funeral those in attendance were invited to speak after the eulogy. Several did beautifully about his life and what he had meant to them. Then a man came forward, who no one else knew. He looked quite distressed and began to speak. He took out his phone and read a picture of a letter he had written to Jon over 20 years before. It was an apology he had never been able to give for things that had happened when they were kids at school. You could almost feel something move as he spoke. The man left after the service and no one really had chance to speak to him. I hope he finds peace. It spoke powerfully to me of the potential for healing and redemption in our lives no matter how far down the line it might be. It spoke powerfully to me of faith. It was an incredible experience to witness.

Liz’s funeral service had a powerful impact too. There were even a couple of moments when it felt like the God of humour was playing tricks on us all. I was deeply moved by what so many people told me after the service. How they said I really knew Liz. They also told me how much she loved the community and had healed so much with us. She will be greatly missed, something I felt strongly all day. Following the service there was a private intimate committal at Dunham Massey. It ended with joy and humour and the song “Hi Ho Silver Lining”, it seemed perfect. As we stepped out into the sunshine that had just appeared I noticed a faint outline of a rainbow in the skyline. It had been raining for some time and now the sun was out, perfect timing.

The next morning I attended my usual Thursday mediation. Liz herself was one of the four people who attend the very first one, along with myself and two people who attended her funeral. The first person to share after the silence began by saying he had been driving in that morning listening to “Talk Sport” when suddenly they began to play “Hi Ho Silver Linning”, wow what a coincidence I thought. Then he shared about being out with his family walking in the hills , how the kids were complaining of the weather walking etc, of a giant seagull pooing on his head and all kinds of things going wrong and then they reached the summit together, the sun came out and there in front of them was a beautiful rainbow and this sense of gratitude that they could share this moment together just overcame him.

I thought to myself “Hi ho silver lining” indeed.

I was sat with a couple of folk who had been at Liz’s funeral and remembered a conversation I had had with them. One was trying to describe someone we all knew, but he couldn’t remember his name. He was doing a terrible job of it. I remarked come on John, give us a clue. Someone said he would be useless at charades. He was certainly no Una Stubbs or Lionel Blair. He also gave us a glimpse of what life might be like if we are privileged to live long enough and end up in a retirement home. There was joy and laughter shared and we remembered dear old friends we have known along the way of life.

Life truly does speak and those within it do too. There are clues everywhere. All we have to do is pay attention and keep on sharing what we have with one another. We sail this ship together.

Clues have been on my mind of late. This is due in no small part to a recent etymological discovery. I recently learnt of origins of the word “Clue”. It was an amazing discovery. A true adventure, involving Greek Mythology.

The word “clue,” as in “a piece of evidence used as a guide in solving a mystery or a problem,” originally means “a ball of thread,” spelled “clew.” (CLEW). Now this raises a question, what on earth has thread got to do with clues? Well, the answer is the story of Ariadne, Theseus, the labyrinth and the Minotaur.

In Greek mythology the Minotaur is a terrifying monster, half human and half bull, born on the island of Crete. Now to keep the Minatour from hurting people, the king of the island makes Daedalus, an inventor and architect, create a labyrinth that the Minotaur will never be able to escape from.

One day the kings son is killed in Athens. The king is so incensed that he declares war on. The Athenians are defeated and as punishment they are forced to send seven girls and seven boys to Crete every year., where they were forced into the labyrinth, where the Minotaur devours them.

One year Theseus, the son of the king of Athens, decides to go to Crete in order to kill the Minotaur and stop the sacrifices. When Theseus arrives in Crete he meets Ariadne, the king’s daughter, and she falls in love with him. Theseus tells Ariadne that he intends to kill the Minotaur and that he will marry her if she helps him. This when Ariadne gives him a ball of thread, called a “clew,” which Daedalus had given her, and she tells Theseus that if he keeps hold of the thread he will find his way back out of the labyrinth with it. He ties one end of the thread to the door of the labyrinth, manages to find and kill the Minotaur deep inside the labyrinth, and then follows the thread back out.

This though doesn’t necessarily answer how the thread came to mean “Clue”. Well the word “clew” always meant both “a ball of thread” and “something that guides a person out of a difficult or mysterious situation.” The spelling changed from “clew” to the modern “clue,” in the early 17th century and thus the word we sue today was born and became a clue we might follow, in order to find an answer.

If we follow the clues we will be led out the labyrinth to safety no matter how lost we may feel at the time. I feel it is the same in life, certainly my life. It does not mean we won’t face misfortune and even disaster from time to time. That said if we keep hold of the thread and take care of the thread we will find our way back home.

When I think of clues etc and those who paid attention and followed them I think of the great detectives of fiction. I have always loved detective stories. My favourite tv programs tend to involve mysteries and detection. As I child I loved Agatha Christie. When relaxing of an evening I love nothing more than watching detective series, new and old. I’m just as happy watching “Murder She Wrote” as I am watching any of the high tech modern series. I’m just as happy watching Bazil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes as I would be watching NCIS or “The Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries”. There is something in the searching for clues and answers and coming to conclusions that I suspect I love in these books and films and activities. I know I am not alone.

The great detectives unearthed the clues by paying attention, particularly to the people around them. Perhaps the most subtle and seemingly innocent was Miss Marple. She had developed a simple down to earth understanding of people, during her time growing up the village of St. Mary Mead. She saw through attentive eyes and had an ability to connect the details and stories together and relate them to people she had known in a her long life. She would hear the details of a murder and say something like, “That reminds me of poor Mr or Mrs so and so …” And how this little problem that they had tried or had caused would be related to the murder. Miss Marple paid attention to people, she paid attention to the world around her, connecting it all together. To me this is the key to spiritual living, to pay attention, to make connections and then to put them into practical application. The key is not to merely ask questions and search for answers but to piece it together and live them as a conclusion in life. The key is to do as Rilke suggested “To live the questions” and in so doing you might just live your way into the answers. This is done in our very human and real lives, by paying attention to one another and by paying attention to life. This is how we follow the clues in the labyrinth of life.

This brings to mind a favourite poem “Love at First Sight” by Wislawa Szyborska

"Love at First Sight" by Wislawa Szymborska's

They're both convinced
that a sudden passion joined them.
Such certainty is beautiful,
but uncertainty is more beautiful still.

Since they'd never met before, they're sure
that there'd been nothing between them.
But what's the word from the streets,
staircases, hallways —
perhaps they've passed by each other a
million times?

I want to ask them
if they don't remember —
a moment face to face
in some revolving door?
perhaps a "sorry" muttered in a crowd?
a curt "wrong number" caught in the receiver? —
but I know the answer.
No, they don't remember.
They'd be amazed to hear
that Chance has been toying with them
now for years.

Not quite ready yet
to become their Destiny,
it pushed them close, drove them apart,
it barred their path,
stifling a laugh,
and then leaped aside.

There were signs and signals,
even if they couldn't read them yet.
Perhaps, three years ago
or just last Tuesday
a certain leaf fluttered
from one shoulder to another?
Something was dropped and then picked up.
Who knows, maybe the ball that vanished
into childhood's thicket?

There were doorknobs and doorbells
where one touch had covered another
beforehand.
Suitcases, checked and standing side by side.
One night, perhaps, the same dream,
grown hazy by morning.

Every beginning
is only a sequel, after all,
and the book of events
is always open halfway through.

This beautiful poem “Love at first sight”, by Wislawa Szymborska, describes two lovers engaged in a display of public affection. I get the impression that the author is convinced that some guiding force is at work in their interaction. What begins as “Chance”, then becomes “Destiny” which “pushed them close, drove them apart”. The poem suggests that these lives were scripted long ago in a “book of events”, which cannot be altered, try as we might. The poem suggests that the lovers have passed by one another many times before, but were never aware or ready to make that first point of contact. That there were signs along the way and that one day this encounter would happen, but it was more than mere chance, something else was at work offering itself to both of them. It just took this moment for it to happen.

In many ways this is how I see life these days. So many possibilities are going on all around us. Some good, others not so good. So many joys, tragedies, triumphs, failures, frustrations, crises, endless possibilities good and bad. Life offers itself to us, but so often we close ourselves off from it. One thing I have noticed is that as I have allowed life itself to guide me I have become more open I am to life itself and the more connected I have felt, the more aware I have become of experiencing meaning and making meaning filled decisions. As I have done so I experienced a greater sense of belonging to myself, those people I share my life with and this world in which we all live and breathe and share our being.

The more I have lived this way the more I have noticed the meaningful coincidences in life. Some say this is how it is meant to be, I am not wholly convinced of this, I prefer to see it as this how it could be if I allow myself to follow the rhythm of life. If I do I notice the so called coincidences, the synchronicities of life. If I follow the thread, If I follow the “clew”, If I follow the clues everyway. All I have to do is pay attention.

To follow the clues is to truly live the questions and thus therefore one day hopefully live our way into the answers. This requires us to pay attention, to pay attention to everyone and then relate it our own experiences, like Miss Marple did. To find the answers she paid attention to life, to other people and to her own intuition. She lived her way into the answers by merely paying attention. She followed the clues, the thread.

I was paying attention on Thursday morning sitting in meditationI heard the language of the heart touch me deeply as people spoke and yet at the same time I could hear clearly all the sounds of life outside. I could hear the traffic, I could hear the birds singing and I could hear the wind, and as I did the words shared penetrated me more deeply. As I listened I found the clues and began to live my way in answers. And what is the answer you might ask? Well, the answer is to pay attention, pay attention to everything. In so doing you will begin to live your way into the answers. All you have to do is pay attention to clues, to follow the thread.

I’m going to end this morning with a favourite poem By William Stafford “The Way It Is”. It is about the thread that runs through life, that will guide us home if we follow the Mythos of Theseus and always hold on to it.

“The Way It Is” by William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

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