The Man in the Maze

Katie D.

September 26, 2010 - 8:26 PM

There is a beautiful Native American symbol that has become amazingly important in my life. It is I'itoi, the Man in the Maze, an ancient symbol of the Tohono O'Odham Nation. From the first time I saw this symbol, I loved it: the human figure at the entrance (or exit) or a labyrinth, a maze with only one path. It called to me as art, as metaphor, and as a powerful connection with a culture that is not my own, but one that is full of beauty and meaning.

Here is the description of the Man in the Maze:

The man at the top of the maze depicts birth. By following the white pattern, beginning at the top, the figure goes through the maze encountering many turns and changes, as in life. As the journey continues, one acquires knowledge, strength, and understanding. Nearing the end of the maze, one retreats to a small corner of the pattern before reaching the dark center of death and eternal life. Here one repents, cleanses, and reflects back on all the wisdom gained. Finally, pure and in harmony with the world, death and eternal life are accepted.

I cannot imagine a more beautiful metaphor for the path of our lives.

I have, however, heard an alternative description of the maze, but I do not recall where it came from. It reverses the story, stating that we are born at the center of the labyrinth and follow a path outward, eventually becoming one with the universe and the vast potential of our world. I don't know which version of the story is more compelling, but I hold these visions before me as I move forward in life.

The Man in the Maze is powerfully connected with my experiences volunteering with No More Deaths. The path of a volunteer in the desert is one of searching, of wandering and finding oneself again. It is all undertaken in the hope that there is a coherence and pattern we cannot see, one that will resolve with a cessation of suffering and confusion.

But The Man in the Maze has also become entangled with me life, with my path through education and volunteering, and the way I imagine my future and past. I have progressed so far from my first days at the University of Oregon and my tentative steps away from home. I have built a life that has wandered through various volunteer organizations, university departments, and international experiences. I have witnessed powerful and transformative things, and have been profoundly changed again and again by the learning undergone in the classroom and in the community. When I look at the Man in the Maze, I sense the purpose and direction of things, that I am moving somehow along a path I am creating as I go, progressing toward wisdom and harmony, in life and in the broadest universe.

I wrote a blog almost two years ago about my love of jewelry with meaning and history http://www.isupportuoregon.org/my_duckstory/blog/katie_d/jewelry. I have recently aquired several pieces of jewelry with the Man in the Maze, including a pair of earrings and a necklace from friends and family for my graduation. They are treasures to me: reminders and inspiration combined. My mom bought me a new bracelet with the symbol on our most recent trip to Arizona. I am surrounded by Mazes and their metaphors. But here's a final story about The Man in the Maze and jewelry. Please bear with me:

My favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver. I love her for her storytelling, her focus on social justice, and the powerful sense of place and identity present in every one of her works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Her first book, The Bean Trees, includes a minor character named Father William, who is involved with a movement to safely transport Guatemalans fleeing the genocide of the 1980's. Father William is based on the founder of the Sanctuary Movement, John Fife, who later co-founded No More Deaths. He wears a belt buckle of the Man in the Maze, which is mentioned in book and which later impressed me when I met him on my first No More Deaths trip in the fall of 2008. I immediately fell in love with the symbol, with the story he told, and with the power of the symbol: its powerful testimony of a purpose and path in life.

And so it all comes together: my love of literature, of justice work, of art, of metaphor, and of community. Wearing this symbol on the brink of a new year of study, I feel ready to dive into this next segment of life.