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Kevin Ladd. Photo courtesy of IU South Bend
Ladd, who also directs the campus's Social Psychology of Religion Lab, focuses on the psychology of religion, but his interests also lie in music, performance, magic and ritual. With a recently awarded $500,000 grant from the Templeton World Charities Foundation, he's investigating how labyrinths can be used across cultures to promote well-being and personal growth.
Q: What projects are you working on?
A: My current project involves labyrinths as a form of a spiritual or personal growth exercise. When I say spiritual exercises, I mean the human spirit, not isolated to a particular religion. This gives us the ability to engage with people of differing belief systems.
This project is a continuation of research I conducted 15 years ago, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, in which we conducted some of the first experimental work on how people can use labyrinths. We previously found that labyrinths helped people stay engaged during prayer and increased positive and decreased negative emotions. People who used the labyrinth would come back and say, "I want to do that again."
This time, a big part of our goal is to test if labyrinths create a demarcated, sacred space for people in a way that is nonchallenging and has a low barrier to entry.
With the generous funding from the Templeton World Charities Foundation, we're able to research the impact of labyrinths in other countries. My colleague and I are traveling to a conference in Vietnam in May and Indonesia later in the year to work with people at universities and in the community.
Q: What are labyrinths?
A: Unlike a maze, labyrinths feature a unicursal path. There's only one path that goes from the outside to the middle. There is no way to get lost, and they are not mentally challenging in the same way a maze is.
Q: How can labyrinths be used to benefit society?
A: We are working with collaborators across multiple contexts. We're testing labyrinths in drug and alcohol rehabilitation, prison systems and geriatric living facilities to reduce stress, refresh the spirit and increase mobility.
The twists and turns can be interpreted as metaphors for our lives and relationships. And yet, you're going to end up where you're supposed to at the end. I think that's an important message for people.
Q: How can you make one?
A: There are many variations. Labyrinths can be squares or circles. One of my favorites is shaped like a giant tortoise. In southern England, one of the world's largest labyrinths is being constructed with rock walls using ancient techniques. People have even developed labyrinth apps for cellphones that can be traced using a stylus.
A former student of mine built a labyrinth out of scrap lumber and cardboard. Others use Christmas lights or rake leaves into a pattern to make labyrinths in their backyard. There are many creative ways that people have used materials to make labyrinths.
Q: Do you use labyrinths in the classroom?
On IU Day, Ladd's students created labyrinths on campus. Photo courtesy of Kevin Ladd
I also have my students decorate the campus with labyrinths, so students learn how to construct them. Once the labyrinths are drawn on campus, I'll find that other faculty will have their students walk through one before they take an exam.
Q: Where can people find labyrinths near them?
A: Check out The Labyrinth Locator from the Labyrinth Society. Lucky for us Hoosiers, there are over 90 labyrinths in Indiana.
