The growing popularity of unicursal labyrinths coincides with a time of deep political divisions in American society. The author suggests that the labyrinth’s popularity in meditative and recreational settings expresses a deep-seated wish to walk a heroic, individual path and to connect this path to a larger purpose. As socio-psychological theories of the individual’s relationship to society move toward an “embedded” model, the labyrinth suggests a collective, perhaps unconscious, desire to find a middle way between individualism and common purpose as well as shared ground amid competing cultural values.
