Aligning with Spirit at the center.
The breathtaking Unity Labyrinth is tucked into a sacred and natural setting on the grounds of Unity Village outside Kansas City, Missouri. For more than 100 years, Unity Village has been the heart of Unity, a global, inclusive spiritual movement founded in 1889.
The Labyrinth reflects the colors of the Mediterranean architecture on the Unity campus, and its winding turns evoke the many arches of the buildings and porticoes.
Part of a renaissance of labyrinths in the United States and globally, the Unity Labyrinth takes its place in a spiritual tradition that stretches back 4,000 years. Labyrinths have long been used in spiritual practice to represent the inner journey to wholeness or to one’s own center. They provide a walking meditation in three parts: releasing human concerns on the way in, aligning with Spirit at the center, and then giving thanks on the way out.
Making Space for Contemplation
Ninety feet in diameter, the Unity Labyrinth was planned for years and installed over a period of 11 months in 2021-22. Unity prepared the site by creating the outer ring and filling it with 200 tons of crushed, washed limestone gravel. The hand-cut paving stones arrived on seven semitrucks pulling flatbed trailers.
Stone artisan Marty Kermeen of Labyrinths in Stone was commissioned by Unity to design the Labyrinth and laid thousands of stones by hand, assisted by his wife Debi. The Labyrinth covers 6,358 square feet. The pathway in and back out is three-quarters of a mile.
Unity made sure the paths were wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs.
Embedded into the stones at the Labyrinth entrance are the Unity wings, one of its earliest symbols representing spirit, soul, and body. The Labyrinth’s unusual design includes benches at the center for contemplation and meditation.
The open-air Labyrinth is tucked into the northeast corner of the 400 Building, which was originally the home of the Unity Prayer Ministry, known as Silent Unity®, and later the Unity seminary. The building was dedicated in 1929 and, along with the Unity Tower, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Labyrinth is just outside the doors of Fillmore Chapel, where Unity founders Charles and Myrtle Fillmore prayed, lectured, and taught classes.
The Labyrinth at Unity Village is designed to be fully accessible, and the path is wide enough for a wheelchair.
