The Path of the Holy Fool

The Path of the Holy Fool summons each of us to become a Holy Fool: one who is accountable, stands for equality and social justice, embraces an ecological vision, and encourages community spirit. Lauren Artress, who established the two permanent labyrinths at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, is a leading force in the Labyrinth Movement. Her new book The Path of the Holy Fool: How the Labyrinth Ignites Our Visionary Powers expands upon her earlier work in Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice. Through the Parsifal story Artress suggests the labyrinth serves as a Grail that is discovered in the invisible, imaginative, in-between world symbolized by the Grail Castle. Most importantly this book invites readers to explore and reflect upon their own uniquely configured imaginations. It is through the imagination that self-reflection and raw experiences of the Holy occur. Once we navigate our imaginative process without fear, the labyrinth experience ignites our creativity, heals our wounds and opens our big picture vision that nurtures empathy and gives us eyes to see and ears to hear--even through the sorrows of the pandemic--the call for a life-enhancing furutre. The labyrinth offers the Holy Fool an unwavering path as we learn to take risks, create new modalities and find a way to contribute to our evolving world.