If asked to suggest a one word key as a humble first step to unlock the worlds and mysteries of Jorge Luis Borges, my answer would be: labyrinths. Here are two Borges quotes: “There is no need to build a labyrinth when the entire universe is one.” “It only takes two facing mirrors to build a labyrinth.” Many Borges tales have references, either direct or indirect, to labyrinths, my favorite, a one-pager entitled “The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths.” Here is my write-up:

Synopsis: An ancient Babylonian king has a labyrinth constructed confusing and subtle in the extreme, thus nobody with an ounce of sense dare enter. Indeed, so convoluted and twisted, so baffling and wondrous, his labyrinth was unseemly in the eyes of God. The king of the Arabs pays a visit to court and, as a way to mock the simplicity of his guest, the Babylonian encourages the Arab to enter his labyrinth. Thus, the Arab king wanders for hours, bewildered and disgraced, until evening when he calls upon God’s help and finally locates the exit. The Arab king says nothing but returns a second time to Babylon with an army and destroys the city and captures his former host. The Arab king takes the Babylonian king many miles out into the desert and, before abandoning the Babylonian, tells him as repayment for being treated to his convoluted Babylonian labyrinth, this is his labyrinth.

Pattern: In an interview, Borges once said how the universe as labyrinth is really encouraging news since the very existence of a labyrinth implies the universe contains both pattern and structure; much more preferable than complete chaos. Sidebar: The difference between labyrinth and maze: a labyrinth has only one path to follow, whereas a maze offers a number of paths to choose from. However, this is not a hard and fast rule since there are some labyrinths with multiple paths and some mazes with only one path.

Borges Link: This short tale is read by a character in another of his stories – “Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari, Murdered in His Labyrinth.” Also, wise to keep in mind the image of a labyrinth, both Babylonian and Arab, when reading other Borges tales, for example, “The Aleph was probably two or three centimeters in diameter, but universal space was contained inside it, with no diminution in size,” or, “It is not as though the Zahir were made of glass, since one side is not superimposed upon the other – rather, it is as though the vision were itself spherical, with the Zahir rampant in the center.” Or, as in the story, “There Are More Things” where a nephew investigates his uncle's monstrous house now belonging to an extraterrestrial being more Minotaur than man.

Babylonian Labyrinth: I myself envision the cubicles in a modern office building forming a convoluted labyrinth with a mean-spirited worker as the stand in for Minotaur. Of course, some of these labyrinths will have more than one Minotaur, while some others might be fortunate to have none - finding out the number is half the challenge. Also, the various reams of data that must be understood, assimilated and handled add more abstract dimensions to our office labyrinth, making it maze-like, with multiple choices and paths available.

Desert Labyrinth, One: I can really empathize with the Babylonian king out in the middle of the desert since I had an extraordinarily vivid dream when in my early 20s. Here’s the dream: the mountains and ground and sky and sun along with my own body shake as if in a cataclysmic earthquake. The convulsions become so extreme the entire universe crumbles and comes to an end - all that remains is an infinite blackness and my own consciousness. I’m in a state of shock, having witnessed the end of the universe. I behold the infinite darkness and remain in this shocked state for many minutes, wondering what I should be thinking at this point. Then, gradually I felt my fingers (ah, fingers!) touching something soft – oh, yes, the sheets of my bed. Slowly, very slowly, I woke up. What a relief – the universe coming to an end was only a dream.

Desert Labyrinth, Two: Of course, there is are critical differences: (1) the Babylonian king in the desert remained a man in his body whereas in my dream I was bodiless, and (2) the desert is a specific landscape on our planet whereas the infinite blackness of my dream was, well, infinite and undifferentiated. Sidebar: It was this vivid dream that in large measure motivated me to seek a meditation teacher and initiate a lifetime meditation practice.

Desert Labyrinth, Three: Several years ago I had a similar vivid dream, a dream where I died and all that remained was my consciousness and an infinite darkness. This time, however, since I had many years of meditation practice, I relaxed into the experience and felt restful, even blissful. These two encounters with infinity really brought home for me how when it comes to the desert labyrinth in its various manifestations, much of what we undergo is mind-created. I relay all this as a way of underscoring the truth of how Jorge Luis Borges judges literature.

Borges Judges Life and Literature: In an interview, Borges said, “Many people are apt to think of real life on the one side, that means toothache, headache, traveling and so on, and then you have on the other side, you have imaginary life and fancy and that means the arts. But I don’t think that that distinction holds water, I think that everything is a part of life.” I agree - the longer I live, the less weight I give to people who are “realists,” those folks who place hard facts above imagination, storytelling, poetry and the arts. For me, such realism bespeaks how one is trapped in a Babylonian labyrinth.

This Borges tale is available on-line: http://boiteaoutils.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-kings-and-two-labyrinths-by-jorge.h... ( )