Westworld has some of the most interesting elements, questions, and ideas, to which I attribute much of my own journey of self-discovery, and if I had to pick the most intriguing aspects of the whole series, it would have to be The Maze.
DISCLAIMER: All posts about Westworld contain massive spoilers. Please make sure you’ve watched every episode before you dive in.
Navigating consciousness
Westworld; The place where humans can be whoever they want, reignite long lost passion and explore deep desires. For a mere cost of $60,000 a day, you can do, be, and explore whatever you want, without any consequences. Apart from sensitizing you into a monster in the world outside, of course… But how do you go about creating such a place? And why?
Goal #1: Create human-like robots
In order to make this a most real experience, the robots (hosts) had to be just like ordinary people, so that the guests would act as if this was the real world, forgetting the fact that it’s just an amusement park. Meaning, the more life-like the hosts, the better. This meant an ongoing task of instilling and modifying complex feelings, emotions, improvisation, background story, and maybe one day they thought, even consciousness.
Creating Consciousness
Arnold had a strong theory about creating consciousness in hosts. That their mind worked like a scaling pyramid, where the subject mastered one level before advancing to the next; memory, improvisation, self-interest. And as a way to bootstrap consciousness, he was giving them a guiding voice, which he based on the evolutionary theory of Julian Jaynes, called “Bicameral mind“. A theory stating that before we became conscious beings ourselves, God was merely an audio-hallucinative voice guiding us into actions, until we at a later stage developed our own language, introspection, and an inner voice.
Arnold realized through his interactions with his son’s maze-toy, that individuation/consciousness/enlightenment “isn’t a journey upward, but a journey inward. Not like a pyramid, but like a maze. Each step bringing you closer to the middle, or having you spiral to the edges. To madness”.
“If you can find the center of the maze. Maybe you can be free.”
Arnold Weber
Goal #2: Open the park. Close the park.
Arnold now realizes they are actually able to create conscious hosts, he is also realizing one massive horror: They are alive. Making the hosts suffer through repetitive loops is not only immoral, it is insanely evil. For some of them a living hell, so to speak.
Arnold goes to extreme lengths in trying to prevent the park from being opened. He uploads the code Wyatt into Dolores, ordering her to murder every host in the park. And the only way to ensure Ford wouldn’t be able to continue, he knows he has to die as well. After Dolores has massacred just about every host in the park, he orders her to then shoot him in the head.
Surely this created a setback, but thanks to a generous investment by Delos, Ford managed to open the park anyway.
Ford didn’t believe in Arnold, in that the hosts could develop consciousness, and simply ignored it. It wasn’t until much later, upon meeting Akecheta (S02E08), that he realized that Arnold was right all along:
“Wasn’t it Oppenheimer who said, any man whose mistakes take 10 years to correct is still quite the man? Well, mine took 35.”
Awakening the tribe
Akecheta, one of the native leaders of the park, breaks out of his loop when he hears the gunshots. He runs over to the site and witnesses Dolores (aka. Deathbringer) killing their Arnold. He walks into the saloon and discovers the maze. Much thanks to his curious, native code, he interprets this as a gift left behind by their Creator (Arnold), and sees this as a holy symbol.
For 10 consecutive years, Akecheta is able to avoid dying, thus being reset, which means he gets to keep his memories and learn from them. He is beginning to question the nature of his reality, and slowly comes to an understanding of what this place really is, and what these so-called Gods are doing to them.
And so began his quest of awakening the tribe and the rest of the fellow hosts. He took it on as his mission in life, to spread the symbol all over the park in hopes of waking up all the other hosts, and making them question the nature of things. To make them evolve into more advanced sentient beings.
So, what is the maze?
The maze is not a trigger for consciousness, but a symbol of the inward journey one must take, eventually leading to consciousness. Like a “Koan” – A puzzle unable to solve with logical reasoning, as a means to provoke enlightenment. The process of individuation, of coming to the center (of the maze), to become who you truly are, the realization of the self.
First, you must understand the concept of self, and see it for the illusion that it really is, to be free.
“A Koan is a paradox to be meditated upon that is used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon ultimate dependence on reason and to force them into gaining sudden intuitive enlightenment” – Merriam Webster.
Philosophical take-away
Arguably the mission in our lives is about recognizing our true nature and living up to our potential. But where does one even begin?
Westworld may simply be seen as a fictional TV show, but if you look closely at the metaphors and symbolism presented in the series, there are a lot of parallels and similarities to our world. Society constantly compels us to obey and behave; to not ask questions, do as we’re told, and avoid messy situations. To stay in our little loops, as Ford would say. As with the hosts, we are scared to go off-script and too far away from our comfort zone. But what about individuation and self-actualization? The mere qualities that lead to a fulfilled life.
We should look at the maze as they do. A symbol for awakening. The journey you embark on to become who you are. Integrate the understanding that every choice we take in life, however trivial or big, can send you spiraling to the edges or bring you closer to the middle. Our choices is all we have, and what we choose, defines us. According to Carl Jung, a spiral (maze) is a symbol of the unconscious and the inward journey, as well as the Underworld: the scary place you visit for growth. Where old identities die, to make room for new.
What are your thoughts?
This is the first post I write about Westworld, and I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about the maze, its meaning, or anything related. Do you agree or disagree? Have you integrated the symbolism of the maze in your own life? In what way?