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While walking the Labyrinth in itself is essentially meaningless, the attributing metaphysical applications of clearing ones mind to allow entrance of other powers is playing with spiritual matches. Principalities and powers of the air lurk and wait, seeking willing or vulnerable hosts to enter. While not all walkers practice invitations of this kind, it is still another tool in the bag of the New Age for the purpose of misguiding beguiled souls.
I don't think quieting the mind has to open it to demons.
I do think there are demons -- I'm not arguing agiainst the reality of demons.
But in my understanding and experience, the lures of selfishness, lust for power or sex or material things, hatred of others, a desire to be approved by others, arrogance, etc., are the things that are the most dangerous to our souls, and the demonic is found in relation to these things, most often.
Those who walk a labyrinth hoping to soothe their nerves and open up to inner peace and to relate to the spiritual world better, are not in any particular danger.
Earthy devices not of God but of our fallen domain
Labyrinth walking in itself is not harmful, but it is let's say a "step in the wrong direction" (pun intended).
To briefly summarize, Christians are to worship God in Spirit and Truth. Even if the intent of Labyrinth walking is for good, one cannot scripturally justify the introduction of a physical edifice to enhance spiritual communication. Genuine communion with the Father of creation through the divine Spirit is completely independent of methods utilizing earth properties, physical stimuli, or induced emotional experiences. Pure and genuine communion with God is procured through the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the meditative state of prayer without any tool or methodology borrowed from the fallen physical world. We are to put on the incorruptible through the Holy Spirit and commune with God in heart and mind alone.
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Paul writes in scripture, “I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also” (I Corinthians 14:15). He does not say that he will pray with the spirit and clear the mind, but with the spirit and the mind. Clearing ones mind as to be vacant, and trusting God to fill it with whatever He desires, not only has no biblical grounding but also is an open invitation to spiritual invasion of malevolent familiars. It is certainly one thing to struggle with the vices of the flesh, it is quite another to yield oneself to a physical earthly device hoping to communicate with God. Why not go away to a quiet place and pray to the Father as Jesus taught? Why use a physical edifice from our fallen domain in which earth-bound principalities dwell, instead insist on pursuing God in the manner which He has prepared for us through his Holy Spirit?
Once again, the Labyrinth in itself is not the problem, its the heart and mind that trusts that an earthy device has any sanctioned relevance for the spirit man to communicate with the Spirit Creator.
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...that the reliance on such methods, the emphasis or focus upon such tools, is the problem.
...and that efforts to clear the mind AS IF clearing the mind was the way for God to speak to us, are misguided and potentially dangerous.
I can agree with that, but I'd add:
Using a method or a tool itself may not be a problem, but often people over-emphasize the method or tool or physical thing or symbol and get sidetracked... So it could be healthy to use a technique while remembering that we shouldn't idolize techniques or be stuck on methods/things of this world.
If one happens to quiet the mind, well fine, but a lot of what one might then find in one's quiet mind may be nonsense or confusion. At any rate one could aim to re-direct one's mind towards something spiritual when it gets distracted and jumbly, and arrive at a state of mind that is quite different than ordinary consciousness, without then taking any ideas or fantasies that come into one's mind as infallible messages from God.
The main point is, one does not need an physical construct like the Labyrinth to walk and meditate in the manner as Christ taught. One only needs to spend time in prayer through the counsel of the Holy Spirit.
We can be certain, if some physical tool, some ornament, jewel, scroll, or walking pattern was required to attained union with God, Jesus would have put a great deal of emphasis on it. However, as it is, the only tangible aspect of the spiritual is the partaking of the communion emblems or Mass in remembrance of Him. What many people a fail to grasp, when a person introduces an earthly object as a tool for divine worship, it is an attempt to consecrate that which is depreciately fallen, cursed, of the earth, imperfect to assist in the bridging of the perfect, divine, supernatural, ethrial. Like mixing oil and water, they simply are not cohesive.
When Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, he caused rioting and eventually the Protestant reformation due to his exegsis detailing the critical abuse of the indulgences. He also accurately condemned the Catholic church regarding their idolatry of the saints, relics and other physical methods and items that tied the spiritual realm to the physical. As if physical items are required for the divine experience, rather they often become idols in the hands of naive users dabbling in matters beyond their spiritual maturity to comprehend. Of course, the Edict of Worms excommunicated Luther as a criminal and heretic
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>> The main point is, one does not need an antediluvian construct like the Labyrinth to walk and meditate in the manner as Christ taught.
Correct.
>> What many people absolutely fail to grasp, when a person introduces an earthly object as a tool for divine worship, it is an attempt to consecrate that which is depreciately fallen, cursed, of the earth, imperfect to assist in the bridging of the perfect, divine, supernatural, ethrial. Like mixing oil and water, they simply are not cohesive.
Certainly if the tool is emphasized a bit, there's a question in my mind as to why it is so emphasized. Worshiping the mind is different from using the mind, worshiping a hammer is different from using a hammer, worshiping the Bible is different from using the Bible -- and turning towards God is different from all of these things.
What is sufficient and necessary for a spiritual life shaped by Christ, is different than what is emphasized by human understanding at any given point in one's life.
What Is the Problem With Labryinth Walking?
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