Tara Nome Doyle

I am cosmogenesis in human form and always have been. So is everyone and everything.

It was a simple truth, very ordinary really, yet it shimmered through me like a silent thunderclap. I looked around at my companions and saw each of them in a new light, as unique expressions of the same unfolding universe, each one walking their own particular

From where I stood, I watched my companions enter one by one. They appeared to wander at random as they wove through the twisting path, yet I knew each was following a pattern as least as old as the building itself. Had I been high above, perhaps I would have seen the entire design and the beauty of each person’s path within it.

In that moment, I

His words echoed what Lauren had shared earlier: the three phases of the labyrinth walk, echoing the three traditional phases of pilgrimage.

Releasing on the way in.

Receiving at the center.

Returning outward, offering our renewal to the world.

Three aspects of one journey: outer and inner pilgrimage interwoven. We walk a physical path, yes—but

I thought of the great symbols of the world—the cross, the crescent, the six-pointed star— forms that carry stories and have shaped civilizations. More than images, these symbols have inspired movements, structured societies, and stirred human hearts for millennia.

Billions of lives on the planet were being shaped each day as people interacted with

Symbol is humanity’s oldest language.

From cave paintings to modern iconography, symbolic communication carries meaning across time and culture. Through the power of words and images, one person’s interior experience can leap across vast amounts of time and space to awaken something new in another. As Brian often reminded us, this symbolic power is

“Every aspect of this cathedral is symbolic, intentional, and multi-layered,” she said. “Its builders embedded meaning into everything—from the grand geometry to the smallest carved detail.”

I had read about the cathedral’s sacred geometry: towers proportioned according to significant ratios, façades laid out in harmonic patterns, and dimensions

“Then perhaps,” I said excitedly, “if the universe is our original teacher, the labyrinth is one of the cosmic patterns through which we are educated, through which something new is brought forth in us.”

“Yes,” she replied, “that’s exactly it. The labyrinth is the outer form of the inner dynamic of cosmogenesis—the pulsing heart of evolution, or the

“We are inside a creative process called cosmogenesis,” he said. “Looking outward, we see the universe that gave birth to us. Because we are intertwined with this creative process, we need a cosmological interpretation of human experience. Anything less is too small for us or the challenges we face.”

Brian Thomas Swimme