No Way Out of the Basement?

It's almost a year since I wrote the article "How Deep Does Your Basement Go?". Although I haven't had that dream in a while, it does feel at though I have been living it.

The dream I talk about in that article is often characterised by a deep, underground labyrinth of empty, liminal corridors. There is something about my current existence that is consistent with that idea.

As I move towards the darkness I can see a corridor with empty rooms and more corridors leading off in different directions, all of them extending deeper and deeper into the darkness. I can tell by the echo, or rather the lack of it, that there are levels below that I can't see. This maze extends far, far below; probably deeper than I can imagine.

It seems I keep wondering down dead-end corridors, lost in a maze of blind alleys and empty rooms. And although I'm not going down deeper into that labyrinth, probing deeper into those awful depths; it seems I just can't find my way out. I'm searching for the upper light but each turn I make leads me back to where I was; an never-ending circling of the same barren storey in search of that exit sign.

I've noticed that however bad it was, there is always a deeper level of darkness, a deeper level of sorrow and pain, and a darker evil waiting for you there in the shadows and beckoning you further down.

I by no means think I have explored the real depths of that maze. And I'm sure there are people who have been, and probably are right now, trapped in deeper and darker places of that grim labyrinth. But I don't think I want to go there. I don't think you can bring the light to those places, and I'm not sure that you can always find your way back.

Reading that article back now, I'm surprised by the ending. Maybe I have ventured too far? Maybe there is no way out of this liminal existence? Maybe I have strayed too far from the light?