Is the 80's classic 'Labyrinth' a metaphor for reality?

[Wisebaxter]

Indulge me here. I'm just watching Leo's recent episode entitled 'Life is a Maze' and immediately I'm reminded of one of my favourite films growing up, Labyrinth. 

 

If you've seen it you'll know what I mean straight away. Here are some of the similarities I noted 

• Sarah begrudgingly accepts her hero's journey for enlightenment, which is personified by her baby brother, stolen from her by David Bowie, who I see as standing for deception, in fact he's a master of deception. So he steals enlightenment (the baby) from her and she must travel through the maze to find it.
• She meets Hoggle, her guide who agrees to guide her through the Labyrinth
• Straight away she realises that The Labyrinth is incredibly counter intuitive and the rules she was taught about reality don't apply at all. The first path she finds herself on seems to go on forever, until she accepts the wise words of a little worm guru who tells her that the truth is right in front of her and that there are doorways everywhere, so she progresses
•  When she gets one of her first challenges wrong, by a couple of creatures that give her a paradoxical riddle, she is cast down into a dungeon to be forgotten about, which could easily be seen as a metaphor for depression. Luckily Hoggle knows a way out though! 
• She finally learns how to solve paradox when she completes a riddle given to her by a couple of talking door knockers, and she progresses. 
• the rules of the maze often change on her, for example there are some little imps that keep moving arrow signs around to confuse her, and she loudly exclaims that 'this place is so unfair!' Another strange guru creature then arrives to tell her 'the way forward is sometimes the way back' and also 'sometimes it seems like we're not getting anywhere, when in fact, we are.' 
• All of the companions she meets have a simplicity about them but their defining characteristic is braveness. 
• Bowie appears to offer her shiny objects and casts her into a materialistic fantasy. Some little goblin hoarder arrives and starts offering her loads of crap that she once found meaningful, stuff like makeup and objects relating to her identity. She exclaims 'this is all junk!' and starts smashing it up (this bit really blew me away). She basically realises that it will distract her from her quest for enlightenment. 
• At one point she has to escape a bunch of weird creatures who can swap heads with each other, a perfect metaphor for the nature of identity and how transient and illusory identity is. 
• Near the end they're being attacked by Bowie's goblin minions (who could embody the deceived masses) and she has to call on nature itself to help her defeat them. 
• Her final challenge is the hardest and trippiest of all, wherein Bowie leads her into a very counter-inutivie 'strange-loop' type of maze, exactly like the one created by Escher. Bowie is pulling out all the materialist stops at this point, offering her everything she's ever dreamed of. She can only escape once she exclaims 'You have no power over me!' and then wakes up enlightened (with her baby brother back at home). 
•  

 

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Wisebaxter

[Colin]

This is what I thought of

[Colin]

link is outside of the maze 

[Nahm]

@Wisebaxter Great post! I agree, even to the extent all of reality is a metaphor for nature and essence of reality. “Wisdom” is everywhere, even pop:

 

”I am whatever you say I am, if I wasn’t then why would I say I am?”

 

The Plight & The Fear

“Sometimes I get upset 'cause I ain't blew up yet
It's like I grew up, but I ain't grow me two nuts yet
Don't got a rep, my step
Don't got enough pep
The pressure's too much, man I'm just tryin' to do what's best

So I try
Sit alone and I cry
Yo I won't tell no lie
Not a moment goes by

The Surrender

That I don't pray to the sky
Please, I'm beggin' you God
Please don't let me be pigeon holed in no regular job”

The Value of Direct Experience

”You gotta live it to feel it
You didn't, you wouldn't get it”

 

 

Identifying The Traps

“Tripping in the world could be dangerous
Everybody circling, it's vulturous
Negative, nepotist”

 

Doing The Deconstruction Work

Whip, whip
Run me like a racehorse
Pull me like a ripcord
Break me down and build me up

I wanna be the slip, slip
Word upon your lip, lip
Letter that you rip, rip
Break me down and build me up

Hypocritical, egotistical
Don't wanna be the parenthetical, hypothetical

Discovery of Authenticism
Working onto something that I'm proud of, out of the box
An epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost

Realization of No Self , Maya, and The Paradox
I'm an apostrophe
I'm just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see
I'm just a product of the system, a catastrophe
And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half-diseased
And when I am deceased
At least I go down to the grave and die happily
Leave the body and my soul to be a part of thee

Break me down and build me up

 

 

The Unification Through Acceptance of The Paradox

Over time, I've been building
My castle of love
Just for two, though you never
Knew you were my reason
I've gone much too far
For you now to say
That I've got to throw my castle away

Over dreams, I have picked out
A perfect come true
Though you never knew it was
Of you I've been dreaming
The sandman has come from too far away
For you to say come back some other day

And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over love, over me

Over heart, I have painfully
Turned every stone
Just to find, I had found what
I've searched to discover
I've come much too far for me now to find
The love that I sought can never be mine

And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over love, over me

And though the odds say improbable
What do they know
For in romance
All true love needs is a chance
And maybe with a chance you will find
You too like I
Overjoyed, over love, over you,
Over you

 

[Wisebaxter]

@Nahm Those are great passages Nahm. I think that within all humans there is a knowledge of the call towards truth and awakening, which manifests in various ways. Sometimes it remains unconscious but it's always there and can be brought to the surface more by various life events. Deception and ego seems to be the main thing blinding us to it.

Quote

 

Over time, I've been building
My castle of love
Just for two, though you never
Knew you were my reason
I've gone much too far
For you now to say
That I've got to throw my castle away

Over dreams, I have picked out
A perfect come true
Though you never knew it was
Of you I've been dreaming
The sandman has come from too far away
For you to say come back some other day

And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over love, over me

Over heart, I have painfully
Turned every stone
Just to find, I had found what
I've searched to discover
I've come much too far for me now to find
The love that I sought can never be mine

And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over love, over me

And though the odds say improbable
What do they know
For in romance
All true love needs is a chance
And maybe with a chance you will find
You too like I
Overjoyed, over love, over you,
Over you

 

This one really blew me away. Sounds like the call to acceptance of oneness and the author is struggling to let go of his castle of identity. I've definitely been afraid of letting go, especially as I'm afraid my life purpose of being a music producer will go to as I'm worried that was a part of my ego. But, something else, something deeper and more pure is urging me to just let go and unattach from it. There is still the hope that once I've done this the universal intelligence will want to create through me and I'll just flow with it and do it's work, but perhaps I should even let go of this hope. To be and to just flow with the river seems like the most amazing thing in the world. Since I've begun letting ago I've experienced deep love of life that I'd lost. If having a life purpose means manipulation, control and neuroticism then I don't want it anyway. Whatever is there once control has ceased, I'll accept it as the truth.  

 

[Wisebaxter]

@Colin Was this screenshot taken when Link has already completed the Maze? He completed his hero's journey, great!  

Edited September 9, 2018 by Wisebaxter

[Colin]

It is a screenshot one can take both before completing the maze and after completing the maze. Only after completing the maze Link possesses treasure and experience that one cannot see. A metaphor for life? Maybe 

[Nahm]

“They will tell you you can’t sleep alone in a strange place.

Then they tell you you can’t sleep with somebody else.

But sooner or later you sleep in your own space.

Either way, it’s ok, you wake up with yourself”.

❤️

[Colin]

@Wisebaxter It is a screenshot one can take, both before completing the maze, and after completing the maze. Only after completing the maze, Link possesses treasure and experience that one cannot see. A metaphor for life? Maybe