On the way home I spend four days in San Francisco, again to transition from one stage of my trip to another. On one un-rushed morning I find myself standing in front of Grace Cathedral and enter in. I am drawn to a labyrinth set in the floor, initially moving around its edge and photographing it from various angles. But I feel myself being drawn even closer into the experience and I enter at the opening and begin to walk …
Slowly and meditatively I place one foot in front of the other, following the path as it gradually unfolds. I am unable to look directly behind to where I have been, although I do pass by those parts of the labyrinth a number of times. I am unable to look too far ahead, although when the path turns I reflexively take stock of the change in direction.
As I walk, I am vaguely aware of others, standing outside on the edge, looking and photographing as I had initially done. Some move on, having captured a piece on film. I continue inwards towards the centre which itself appears to change as I move on, at times appearing as if becoming closer, and at other times seeming to be more distant. And as I continue to travel, again I am vaguely aware that one person, two, then finally three, make their way to the opening and begin. We become one in the territory which lays before each of us, passing quite closely at intervals, further apart at other times, but always with the awareness of each other in this space. But as we make our own way slowly and silently to the centre to pause for a time…and to retrace our steps to the opening … each traveller experiences the space as different.
Much to ponder in these moments of becoming …
Judith M Brown, October 2010
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”