To some people, the bunch of rocks in Neal Harris’ back yard is just that–a bunch of rocks.
To Harris’ neighbors, the stones and the more than 200 people who have come to look at them are both a curiosity and a nuisance.
But to Harris and his wife, Mary, the stone labyrinth in their back yard forms an entry to spiritual contact with God.
The problem is, Harris’ back yard, in unincorporated Cuba Township in Lake County, is not zoned for the business of contacting God.
Michael Kuhar, deputy director of the Lake County Department of Zoning, acknowledged, “No one says you can’t go out and sit by a group of rocks.”
Still, Kuhar’s office informed Harris this spring that he can no longer invite the public to see the labyrinth for free because it violates the residential zoning code.
The labyrinth also caught the evil eye of Harris’ neighbors.
“Nobody has complained about the labyrinth itself,” said William Valtos, president of the River Glen Homeowners Association, where the Harrises live and where street parking is banned.
“But there were complaints that there were 10 cars parked in the cul-de-sac there, and the mailman couldn’t deliver the mail,” Valtos said.
So Harris, a believer in New Age mysticism, is going to move his labyrinth.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Harris, 36, a slight, bearded man who was recently hospitalized for diabetes.
“This is why we moved here, to create a labyrinth that was big enough for people to come to,” he said. “I was hoping I’d grow old here with the labyrinth gathering more and more energy as the years went on.”
Harris and his wife moved to the large, cedar-shingled home between Fox River Grove and Lake Barrington last May from Roselle, leaving behind a smaller labyrinth made of bricks.
Harris said they were moved to embark on a larger path.
Last July, truckloads bearing tons of rocks from Sure Green Landscape Supplies in West Chicago arrived at their home. With the help of volunteers, the Harrises began building their 25-ton labyrinth.
A labyrinth is not a maze, Harris said, but a “tool to get in touch with your inner wisdom.”
“A maze is set up to trick the mind,” he said. “A labyrinth is a single path that leads from the outside into the center. It is a twisting, turning path that symbolizes the path of life, but hopefully, there are no blind alleys or dead ends.”
The Harrises’ labyrinth, which cost about $5,000 to create, consists of stones laid end to end on the ground to form concentric circles, between which lies a grass path. The path loops its way around and around, gradually making its way to the center, where “some believe they are closest to God,” Harris said.
A copper tube pyramid stands at the center of Harris’ labyrinth.
Harris said he based the design on a labyrinth laid in the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in Paris. Medieval pilgrims at the time of the Crusades used the labyrinths as an alternative to making a perilous pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Harris said.
In the Middle Ages, people believed that because everything was created by God, all things had layers of meaning, just like the layers of meaning surrounding the mystery of God, said Dennis Martin, assistant professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago.
The labyrinth, a puzzle itself, is a “very logical way to symbolize that mystery,” Martin said. “My sense is that modern people are reading into the existence of the labyrinths in some cathedrals. People will fill in the blanks of what they want to believe.”
The Harrises dedicated, or “activated,” their labyrinth on Sept. 21, the autumnal equinox.
“We did a meditation to bring in energy from labyrinths around the world,” Neal Harris said. “We wanted to bring their healing, transformative qualities to our labyrinth. Once it was activated, it then sends energy back to the labyrinths so they are strengthened.”
Since Harris’ labyrinth opened, more than 200 people have walked the grass path, Harris said. Some say they have been healed or comforted during their walk, he said.
But now, the labyrinth will be moved, stone by stone, to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin, where plans are to have it installed by June.
“It’s going to a place where people will respect and honor it,” Harris said.
“The labyrinth is another religious symbol for people to use in their spirituality,” said Unitarian minister Daniel Brosier. “Some people have New Age beliefs about it. Others can use it for meditation.”
“It opens up the religious discussion in a society that is dominated by one religion (Christianity),” Brosier said.
Once the labyrinth is moved, Harris said he will continue to teach labyrinth relaxation in his classes.
“And we’ll mow the lawn,” he said.
