Students and visitors walking the bluff path noticed a new landmark this December: an outdoor labyrinth overlooking Playa Vista and the Pacific Ocean. The labyrinth is open to the public and is available as a resource for visitors seeking peace.
Labyrinths are popular tools for walking meditation. Built in the Cretan or classical labyrinth style, it looks like a maze but offers walkers only one path, guiding visitors from the outside to its center.
The labyrinth is the centerpiece of “The Garden of Slow Time,” an installation designed as part of the 2016 Bellarmine Forum, which studied the idea of slow time on campus. Directed by English professor Paul Harris and philosophy professor Brad Stone, the semester-long Forum included a lecture and event series; a cluster of undergraduate courses that explored time from a variety of disciplinary angles; and four Slow Time Zones, art installations that invited the campus community to experience time in a new way.
The labyrinth was the final Slow Time Zone to open on campus; it opened just before the end of the fall semester, and students in Bellarmine Forum classes attended a dedication ceremony on Dec. 10. Randy Roche, S.J., director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality at LMU, led a blessing of the new space.
Harris designed and installed the labyrinth in close consultation with Mario Arroyo and LMU Facilities Management. It has already become a popular campus destination for quiet reflection at a slower pace.
Labyrinth and Slow Time Resources
“Garden of Slow Time”
Background on the labyrinth and suggested walking meditations
“Slow Down” by David L. Ulin
Essay on slow time in LMU Magazine
“Garden of Slow Time” Dedication Ceremony Photo Gallery