Liminality

A new word in my vocabulary, as it came to me through suggestion from two different and unrelated personal resources this week. So I decided it was worth a look.The word is Liminal, Liminality, Liminal space and time: It is of Latin root meaning "threshold"; and can often mean a threshold of psychological being or of psychological response. a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective, conscious state of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes,where normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed - a situation which can lead to insights and dynamically new paradigms and perspectives. Symbolically it is the place between light and dark; between ocean and shore; between mountian and sky... "between the pit of mans' fear and the sumit of his knowledge". It is a concept expressed not only in philosophy and psychology, but also appears in anthropology and metaphysics. It seems to be a condition of the human experience. If you have ever had that brief moment between being asleep and being awake where everything about reality made perfect sense, and there was a feeling of forward motion in your perception and ephifany of understanding, then you have experienced temporary liminality. It is thought that through practice one can reach a state of perpetual liminality where one masters the threshold between the pit of fear and sumit of knowledge, where light and dark converge to focus upon higher dimentions of conscious understanding. Hmmmm.....