Semantically, a labyrinth is a path that simply winds its way from start to finish, which are often the same place. A maze has forks, dead ends and sometimes  cycles.

Philosophically, labyrinths and mazes are yin and yang. The spiritual labyrinth is a meditative path laid out with careful artistic intent to set you free, while the puzzling maze is a challenging structure designed to trick and entrap. This duality is echoed mathematically using the same of set of curves to define labyrinth or maze topology: labyrinth are the curves while mazes are the space between.

Artistically, these structures are immortalized in the work of Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher and Keith Haring. They continue to fuel the imagination of the deliciously twisted doodlers of the MAD magazine and contemporary artists like Adrian Fisher, Christopher Morrison, David Anson Russo, Christopher Berg and Mo Morales.

Visually, we categorize labyrinths and mazes as structured or organic. Structured mazes, often seen in puzzle books, are constructed on geometric grids and have paths precisely aligned with grid cells. Organic labyrinths and mazes, seen mostly in maze art and spiritual symbolism like the Tantric structure (left) have an amorphous visual appearance resembling shapes seen in nature.

Throw in some literature and words become an artistic tool ... phrasing and punctuation guiding the shape and precise length of the resulting labyrinth.