Have you ever felt like you’re nowhere? Not here, not there. Not this, not that. Not before, not after. Life seems to be changing, but nothing’s clear yet.
Lately, I have been fascinated – once again by – liminal spaces. According to google, liminal means: occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.
This space is, honestly, so mind blowing. There is something unreal about this place. Our minds can’t grasp it. Or, I should rephrase; our minds cannot define it. We can grasp it, because grasping itself seems to be, a liminal activity.
If you look at a coastline; where does the ocean stop, and the shore start? We can “grasp” the concept of a coastline, but we cannot define its exact location. Or at least, I can’t. Some people make an attempt, I assume. Which is amazing! But I love the idea of liminal spaces as it is. It actually gives me a calming feeling; at some point, we’re allowed to stop defining.
And then, what happens then? Ooof. What happens within a liminal space? Do you remember that age when you weren’t old enough to be an adult, and not young enough to be seen as a child? Exactly; ✨confusion.✨
But confusion is good for our brains. It gives us perspective and makes us humble. We don’t always understand anything, and we can’t! I felt that these liminal periods can be extremely fertile. They can be scary as well. But as long as you have sufficient trust that it will all lead to something, letting go can be an amazing experience.
Easier said than done, eh? It can be an interesting exercise to try to find liminal spaces around you. They’re everywhere. And once you’ve recognized a few, you’ll get the hang of it. How do these moments make you feel? How do you respond to them? Can you be in them? All these realizations teach you something about how well you respond to vagueness and transitions.
Spaces like this often gave me a creepy feeling and made me almost a bit desperate for certainty. It was mostly the nothingness about these places that scared the shit out of me.
I’ve learned to view liminality as a force of potential instead of an empty void. I’ve learned to “not understand” as well. Now, I tend to laugh when I find another liminal space. My partner and I make many jokes about them. This leads me to shape this whole story into a funny “zen” statement:
Liminality is funny.
ps. Have you ever had a look at the Hanopes website? It’s fully liminal. Here is a poem, specifically about the experience of liminality as a space: On the edge.