Liminal Space; The Land Between Tides
Something is waiting to be discovered.
Liminality is the altered state that occurs in the middle stage of transition. It can happen anywhere in time or space. The most common liminal space is that transitional time of morning when you are floating in and out of sleep. As I write this, on December 28th, we are in the middle of a cultural transition, the holiday season, a passage from one year, one phase of life, to the next. The holiday week before New Year's Day is the liminal period. This in-between time may have an odd feeling because if we are working, we feel we should be at home relaxing; if we are relaxing, we think we should be more productive (I pour myself into reading and writing). In any event, the week between holidays puts us in an unfamiliar space and time.
I feel drawn to the otherworldliness of liminal spaces and places throughout the year. Perhaps this is why I enjoy travel and experiencing odd places like roadside rest-stops at night or small town motels. Likewise, as a contemplative, I'm a mental nomad; I like visiting liminal spaces of the mind, unfamiliar perspectives, where it feels like the altered reality of walking downtown on Sunday morning when there are no people afoot. In that peculiar liminality, fresh insights may occur.
My image, "The Land Between Tides," reminds me of the power of liminality.