Parabola's Summer 1992 issue: Labyrinth Few symbols are more perplexing than the labyrinth, and perhaps it is because it so aptly describes our human condition that it holds such fascination. The realm of angels may be characterized by order and peace, but our mortal realm is one of confusion, in which we are lost and yet into which we are born in order to seek redemption. On the most ordinary level, we are drawn to puzzles and enigmas, a natural and inborn response to solve any mystery including the mystery of ourselves. Throughout the history of humankind, the labyrinth appears and reappears in many different variations, in story and myth, in architecture, art, and dance, in the games of children, and in traditional rite and ritual. Its constant reemergence is a testimony to the eternal search for the solution to the puzzle of human existence. --from the editorial Focus Cover: Pima Indian basket Private collection In this issue:

• "The Geometry of the Labyrinth" by Patrick Conty
  - The relationship between mazes and knots
• "Journey to the Center" by Mircea Eliade
  - Questions which fueled a personal and scholastic search
• "All Seek a Way" by Shawkat M. Toorawa
  - The straight path in Islam
• "The One Thread" by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
  - A classic treatise on knots and labyrinths
• ARCS: "The Deeper Chambers of the Heart"
• "The Game of Goose" by Frederick Franck
  - Variations of a popular European board game
• "Borges and I" by Jorge Luis Borges
  - The confusing spiral of imagination and identity
• TWO POEMS by W. H. Auden and Shaikh Ahmad al-'Alawi
• "Poetry, Madness, and the Inner Ear" by Douglas Thorpe
  - Physical and poetic manifestations of a metaphor
• "Waw Giwulk: The Center of the Basket" by Joseph Bruchac
  - The maze-baskets of the Pima Indians
• "The Risk of Evolution: An interview with Joseph Chilton Pearce"
  - The search for the link between the brain and the heart
• "Cave and Labyrinth" by Jean Gebser
  - Symbolic similarities and differences
• "The Joy of the Maze" by Trebbe Johnson
  - Swimming under water
• "The Making of an Orthodox Rosary" by D. M. Deed
  - A tactile approach to working through a prayer-knot
• "The Secret Place" by Richard Behrens
  - Discoveries at the cave of Les Trois Frv®res in France

Tangents - Reviews

• "A Modern Metaphor" by Rob Baker
  - The labyrinth in contemporary literature

Epicycles - Traditional stories from around the world

• "Dirge for Daedalus" / Greek - retold by Paul Jordan-Smith
• "Two Stories" / Jewish - by Martin Buber
• "The War Machine" / Hindu - retold by Tom White
• "The Briar Patch" / American - retold by Tom White
• "The Wolf and the Kid" / Greek - from Aesop's Fables
• "Sleeping Beauty" / European - retold by P. L. Travers