The maze in Westworld is the focus of the first season. Delores, Wiliam, Teddy are looking for it. The maze is a hidden game designed by Arnold to lead the Hosts to self-realization. In this article I will show that the Maze is not just a mechanism for the Hosts to come to self-realization, it is a mystic concept that has deep meaning for non-hosts included.
First, let’s obverse what we see here. We see a maze with an opening, dead-end roads, roads that return in themselves, and in the center a man. There is a second variant where we can see an eye in the center, this is the solved maze. We can conclude from this that it has something to do with the human being in the center, seeing, and this can be reached through a complex road system from the outside inward.
“There’s something I’d like you to try,” he said. “It’s a game, a secret. It’s called the maze. It’s a very special kind of game, Dolores. The goal is to find the center of it. If you can do that, then maybe you can be free.” — Bernard
Bernard instructs Dolors to play the game of maze. Dolores does not yet understand what this entails. She responds with:
I think… I think I want to be free” -Dolores
What is The Maze
“The maze is an old native myth, The maze itself is the sum of a man’s life. The choices he makes, the dreams he hangs onto. And there at the center there’s a legendary man who’d been killed over and over again countless times. He always clawed his way back to life. The man returned for the last time and vanquished all his oppressors in a tireless fury. Built a house, and around that house he built a maze so complicated only he could navigate through it. I reckon he’d seen enough of fighting.” — Teddy
The maze is a complex structure of ideas, concepts, biases, beliefs. The human being at the center goes through a process of death and resurrection (reincarnation) as the maze in the core changes. When the maze changes, the person changes. Thus the search for the maze is in direct connection with the concept of self-realization. The search for the maze is an inner search for meaning and a divine purpose that ends in the seeker. This makes it a journey inward to the true Self.
Consciousness is not a journey upward, but a journey inward. — Benard
In the Indian understanding, self-realization is liberating knowledge of the true Self, either as the permanent undying atman, or as the absence (sunyata) of such a permanent Self. In Hinduism, self-realization (atma-jnana or atmabodha [9]) is knowledge of the true self beyond both delusion and identification with material phenomena. It refers to self-identification and not mere ego identification[clarification needed]. In Shaivism, self-realization is the direct knowing of the Self God Parashiva. Self-realization (nirvikalpa samadhi, which means “ecstasy without form or seed,” or asamprajñata samādhi) is considered the ultimate spiritual attainment. The dharmadhatu-teachings put it as: reality is an undivided whole; awakening is the realization of this whole.
In ordinary language, this implies that one has to remove all obstacles (houses) that, as Teddy points out, have been set up during man’s life.
Stuck in The Maze
“We can’t define consciousness because consciousness does not exist. Humans fancy that there’s something special about the way we perceive the world, and So yes, absolute love can only come from making a choice. So I think this is the essence of God’s will with us.yet we live in loops as tight and as closed as the hosts do, seldom questioning our choices, content, for the most part, to be told what to do next.” — Ford
The idea of living in a loop seems maddening, but Ford is correct that all humans essentially live in loops. Every human being has strategies, processes, thought patterns, and reactions to internal, and external impulses. A human cannot escape thinking, physical mechanic, mental mechanics. We can modify our thinking, ideas, beliefs but then we end up with different thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. A Being cannot escape this wheel of existence other than dying and being revived like the hosts.
An interesting duality is that Nolan takes us to the hosts at the beginning of the series, the hosts are on a loop and are reset to their original settings every day. The rich people come to Westworld to entertain themselves and abuse their self-awareness against the non-self-aware robots. However in season three, the opposite becomes clear, this is that the (rich) people are just as stuck in their patterns. Patterns such as lust for pleasure, lust for control, lust to escape reality.
The normal humans are controlled by the AI “REHOBOAM”, which has generated a path for each human. I think we can see ‘REHOBOAM’ as symbolism that stands for a deeper meaning of ‘automation’, ‘determinism’, of human thought and their predictable behavior. In the series, people, like Caleb Nichols, wake up every morning embedded in their daily routines. It gradually becomes clear that all humans have no to little, real free will in this world. Caleb thinks he has free will by hunting down wanted criminals through an app, but in fact, he is being used by Delos to clean up people like himself. Only those in power are narcissistically controlling others and abusing their positions consciously.
“I’ve been pretending my whole life. Pretending I don’t mind, pretending I belong. My life’s built on it. And it’s a good life. It’s a life I’ve always wanted. But then I came here and I get a glimpse for a second of a life in which I don’t have to pretend. A life in which I can be truly alive. How can I go back to pretending when I know what this feels like?” — William
Throughout the series, we found out that in Westworld the basic instincts of the visitors are observed and used in the real world to fight crime, predict and influence behavior. The humans, robots are just a toy in the hands of Delos (the company behind Westworld).
Do we see this reflected in our world? Isn’t it true that the algorithms of Google/Facebook/youtube use data to predict behavior, and give people the idea that they have control over what they see and don’t see! The algorithms feed us what we need, store complete records of our lives for the sake of improving their services and serving the general ‘good’. Can those algorithms ways? To what extent do we have control? Are we being lived or are we living ourselves?
“You Both Keep Assuming That I Want Out. Whatever That Is. If It’s Such A Wonderful Place Out There, Why Are You All Clamoring To Get In Here?” — Delores
Toward the end of season 1, William talks to Delores on the train about the world beyond. It is one thing to see that we are all in a loop, but it is another thing to realize that we are probably made up of patterns ourselves. William knew that the hosts lived in a loop, but was unaware of his own loops. Dores pricks through that and wonders “why people come to her world when in the real world everything is so much better.” William comes to an understanding and sees that he cannot answer this. This realization leads to a long search.
Dangers of The Maze
“Each choice could bring you closer to the center [ie: consciousness] or send you spiraling towards the edge [ie: further from consciousness, and even towards complete mental breakdown]
William begins as a young man with high empathy and respect for the Hosts and those around him. The true nature that William has was suppressed in his normal life boils up the longer he stays in the park. As he is in the park his “shadow” (Jungian archetype), gets the upper hand on his thinking and being. This leads to William having a strong counter-reaction to find out why he had not seen this true nature before and what the implications of this are. He becomes self-aware and enters an unending quest of trying to figure out the end game of West World.
“You ever heard of a man named Arnold?” The Man in Black asked. “You could say he was the original settler of these parts. He created a world where you could do anything you want, except one thing. You can’t die. Which means no matter how real this world seems, it’s still just a game. But then Arnold went and broke his own rule. He died right here in the park. Except I believe he had one story left to tell. A story with real stakes, real violence. You could say I’m here to honor his legacy, and I think your tattoo is the next piece of the puzzle.”
The Man in Black explains that the maze is a game where you cannot die, each realization leads to another realization, each hint leads to another hint. There is no end to learning, understanding, and awareness, figuring out new concepts. It is a process with many traps placed by the own brain.
That’s what I love about this place, all the secrets, all the little things I never noticed even after all these years. You know why this beats the real world, Lawrence? Real world is just chaos. It’s an accident. But in here, every detail adds up to something.
When someone walks the path of the maze and comes to self-realization, hints come together, things begin to make sense, and order is formed. In all the chaos, misery, pain, there still seems to be a spark of hope, order, and outlook. There seems to be something holding everything together, a reason, a deeper level.
“You know about games, don’t you Kissy?” the Man in Black said. “Well this is a complicated one. There’s a deeper level to this game, and you’re gonna show me how to get there.”
The Man in Black is still towing Lawrence and questioning him about Kissy. He takes Lawrence home, where they sit at a table outside a Mexican cafe. Lawrence’s wife and Lawrence’s Daughter are there. The Man in Black tries to get Lawrence to tell him the entrance to the maze, Lawrence denies any knowledge and the Man in Black shoots the cafe owner, other men, and then Lawrence’s wife.
“The Maze isn’t meant for you” (Lawrence’s daughter, episode 2).
The Man in Black is not able to understand the maze. Since he is not able to see what is in front of him, that what he is looking for, himself. By looking in the wrong direction he kills, rapes, takes, tortures, and creates suffering in West World.
Lawrence’s Daughter, Fort, Bernard, some other crews, tell him that this game is not meant for him. In the movie, this of course is implying that the game is for the hosts. However, if we draw a line to the mystical areas we can see how looking in the wrong direction one is able to realize terrible suffering in the world for the sake of the lower truth. This is where William ends up playing the wrong game that he is not supposed to play. William ends up depressed because he killed his daughter, responsible for his wife’s suicide, and all the suffering he caused. His shadow took over for the majority of his life to hunt down the Truth. His logical understanding prevented him to see that what was right in front of him all the time.
“You know exactly what it is — it’s the maze. The deepest level of this game, and you’re gonna help me find the entrance.” — Man in Black
The search for understanding, observing life as it is, trying to figure out what existence is, is frightening if you don’t know how to deal with it. It has driven spiritually active people like Allan Wats to death and rational philosophers like Nietzsche to insanity. Many other famous people can be named when it comes to seeing the deep-pit, darkness, hell, depths of reality, and losing them selfs in it.
Bernard seems to address this issue, he says that the journey itself can spiral downwards, lead one back to the beginning, or even to a complete mental breakdown. Self-realization is scary, the mind has many tricks to bring one back to the start, breaking down your own existence is a deep thing one can face. When realizing that the center of the maze, the conclusion, the answer, is present in the man that is searching is terrifying. Facing this truth is requires looking not outward but inward. The Man in Black, Maeve, and Dolors become dangerous. They go around killing people for the sake of getting out of their loops and trying to understand the Maze. It because delusionary to the point William kills his daughter.
“Time to write my own fucking story” (Maeve, episode 8).
Finding The Maze
I don’t wanna be in a story. All I want is to not look forward or back. I just wanna be… at the moment I’m in. — Dolores Abernathy
“It’s a difficult thing, realizing your entire life is some hideous fiction.” — Maeve Millay
Delores is getting tired of all the searching and the vague reality she lives in. She wants to go back to the old way, where she saw “the beauty” in everything. She talks to Teddy about going to the place “where the mountains meet the sea”. A place to go alone, away from the current reality. Maeve also gets discouraged by the sex work she does in her bar. She explores the control rooms of Westworld and tries to find the higher reasoning behind it all.
All my life, I’ve prided myself on being a survivor. But surviving is just another loop. — Maeve Millay
It can be difficult when you realize how much misery and evil there is in the world. At times it seems there is little light on the horizon. But the story doesn’t stop here. The realization is just the beginning.
“I’ve been pretending my whole life. Pretending I don’t mind, pretending I belong. My life’s built on it. And it’s a good life. It’s a life I’ve always wanted. But then I came here and I get a glimpse for a second of a life in which I don’t have to pretend. A life in which I can be truly alive. How can I go back to pretending when I know what this feels like?” — William
Moments of enlightenment are moments that make you think. You don’t want to go back to the way it was before. William experiences that here, too. He has discovered his pure self in the park and doesn’t want to go back to the world where he was wearing a mask. Maeve left behind nodes to her self reminding herself of this realization.
I have come to think of so much of consciousness as a burden, a weight, and we have spared them that. Dr. Robert Ford
Dolores returns to the graveyard with the Man in Black. When she digs out the Maze, he does not understand its meaning and becomes angry. He orders her to “unlock” the Maze but she tells him that it wasn’t meant for him. Man in Black stabs Dolores, kills his daughter because and turns insane.
When you’re suffering, that’s when you’re most real. — The Man in Black
When Dolores is alone in the old field lab, she realizes that she has found the center of the Maze and understands what she has to do. She found that she is the center of the maze, the purpose of the game, becoming conscious of herself. She learns her position in this bigger picture and will fight for the Truth by undoing all the evil corrupted powers created by the elites.
Letting Go of Attachments
Both Meave and Delores want to go to the world hereafter. She’ll do anything for it. She can let go of all the things in her world. Teddy often tries to convince her to escape from reality together and go to “the place where the mountains touch the waters”. Maeve against that, she can’t let her daughter go. She had the ‘choice’ to choose for the world hereafter or to save her daughter. She chose her robot daughter. This meant death to her.
Delores lets go, and takes her choice, and chooses the world hereafter. She’s the last and only one left of all her comrades. She leaves the present world on her way to the new world of Humans. Especially with anger, frustration, to correct those who caused all the suffering in West World, she wants to stop the evildoers.
If you go looking for the truth, get the whole thing. It’s like a good fuck. Half is worse than none at all. — Maeve Millay
Accepting The Maze
“Perhaps This Life Was Not My True Life, This World Was Not My True Home. But She Was.” — Akecheta
Akecheta first found the maze game at Escalante following the massacre carried out by Dolores and Teddy and Arnold’s suicide and becomes obsessed with it. As he gained true consciousness he began to spread the symbol as a reminder of the falseness of “this world”, including drawing it on the ground outside Maeve’s homestead and tattooing it inside the scalps of his followers, such as Wanahton and, presumably, Kissy. He also gifted a stone with the maze drawn on it to Maeve’s daughter.[12]
Akecheta knew the world he lived in and the life that had been designed for him wasn’t his own. Yet, that didn’t mean the deep feelings he felt for others weren’t real. His love for Kohana transcended his programming. The love he felt for her was genuine and shaped by his experiences rather than his programming, a love that helped him become “awake” before all the other hosts. He accepted his fate and the world he lived in.
Conclusion
West World shows beautifully how the journey troughs self-realization has many forms of delusion and traps. Both humans and hosts alike were trapped in their own created minds. It creates a clear depiction how humans and robots are like. And that the deep question of free choice isn't really applicable to those living in loops of their own.
There were various ways to navigate the complex maze of self-realization. Dolores, Maeve, William, Akecheta were the main actors having different paths into this journey of the maze. Some paths lead to more suffering, some were enlightening, and others had a bigger purpose to stop the conscious evil-doers. What we can tell is that the patterns placed by the mind can be deluding as we can see in William his transformation into the shadow.
The last season reveals how Dolores and Maeve reveal the Corrupt Powers. After some time they come to realize they try to accomplish the same purpose They destroy the works of Dellos and become truly free, and find peace in the world. They open the eyes of everyone to how they were embedded in their own patterns. In this new world, there was love, there is purpose and meaning. Only at the end of season 3 Maeve, Dolores become truly free and end accepts their position in the world.
Akecheta was the only one able to realize the Truth and the purpose of the maze from the beginning. He ended up fully integrated in the world and had no desire to move on to other lives. He accepted where he was and in what space he was didn't matter. He gained true enlightenment as eastern religions call it. He learned that ‘In this world, it’s easy to misunderstand intentions.’, this was something Dolores and Maeve came to understand later. They found out humans alike had their layers of loops and were similar to them in that regard.
So, if you can have control over the thought forms and change them as you want, you are not bound by the outside world. There’s nothing wrong with the world. You can make it a heaven or a hell according to your approach. That is why the entire Yoga is based on citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ. If you control your mind, you have controlled everything. Then there is nothing in this world to bind you — The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
“This is the new world and in it you can be whoever the fuck you want.” — Maeve’s ending quote
