Then and Then

An essay on liminal space

The English language, particularly here in the states, can be a confounding tool for understanding. Sometimes, language can make things so clear. Other times, trying to decipher meaning from words feels like the old Abbot and Costello bit, “Who’s On First.”

That has me thinking about liminal space. Liminal space is paradoxical. Liminal space is that time between then (before now) and then (after now). Confusing right? That’s not just true linguistically. Being in liminal space, or the time between things, can in fact be a really confusing place to find yourself. What was is no longer, and what is next is not now.

Father Richard Rohr argues that liminal space is the only place where learning can thrive. I would argue that’s true because it’s the most uncomfortable kind of space we occupy in our lives. And it has been true for me that discomfort always has the most to teach me.

Liminal space is uncomfortable because it requires that I be present enough to fight the urge to run back to then, the time that, at the very least, is familiar to me. I know what to expect from back then. And even if back then doesn’t fit my life anymore, it offers the illusion of safety because it seems at least that I can know it.

Liminal space is also uncomfortable because it requires that I be present enough to fight the urge to run ahead to then, that time where I can plan it all now and offers the illusion that if I just move on to then, things will be better, easier, more predictable. Then I’ll have it all figured out.

Liminal space is much like the paradox of sitting in the dark. The longer you sit in darkness, the more your eyes adjust and you are able to see. And, it is my experience that the seeing that comes from resting in the dark of liminal space has more to teach about the then of the past, which gives me more understanding to move me towards the then of the future.

The hope I have for myself is that I will be present between the then and then. That I will learn to sit in the darkness and the discomfort and in so doing, will gain the eyes to really see.