Transition states are fundamental and transformative
Liminality may perhaps be regarded as the Nay to all positive structural assertions, but as in some sense the source of them all, and, more than that, as a realm of pure possibility whence novel configurations of ideas and relations may arise
Victor Turner
To start with I need describe what I understand by a liminal state.
Though the term originates from the study of anthropology its meaning and application has increased markedly and is nowadays employed to designate any situation being cultural, personal, social, or otherwise that carries the foundational attribute of in-between.
The in-betweenness situation or state carries a certain set of characteristics such as fluidity, ambiguity, and uncertainty.
Moreover, allowing for the transitory situation as a positive process of transformation and changeability, the liminal state reflects a moment in time, a given period having a so-called entry point in time and an exit point in some future time.
So, in the sense described above a liminal state is limited by a beginning and end.
Within the period of liminality, the situation is fluid, flow like, volatile and indefinite. Because of these characteristics the state of liminality is one of immense potential for change, for growth and for transformation.
Liminal situations are all situations in which the subject be it a researcher in anthropology embedded in a tribe or an immigrant to a new territory or indeed a phase transition in natural evolution, are always in a state of transition.
Liminal states if so, are states of transition.
States of transition in turn are passages or bridges between the known and the unknown.
Finally states of transition are considered high intensity states.
In liminal states, previously certain known procedures and kinds of knowledge become unstable.
Not all liminal states are equivalent, for though being between rentals one could argue that she is in a liminal state, the actual state depends on the subject intensity of emotions as regards the motion. It could be a liminal state but it is not necessarily so. The question of what makes an event in one’s life liminal is a thus a very personal question to which the answer is ultimately unique.
It could indeed be the case that for a young human person to move out of his parent’s house into a self-managed existence, the event carries an emotional intensity high enough to trigger a liminal state, that however depends on the person involved and is not an intrinsic property of the moving out.
To my mind being in a state of liminality is primarily reflected by the self-awareness of the subject. Moreover, a liminal state reflects the immense diversity of human experience and points to the underlying richness of our transitory states.
It could be argued that our whole life is a liminal state between birth and death and through the dynamics of casual existence we experience the full gamut of our possibilities. Though it is a reasonable approach I deem it insufficiently specific.
The term liminal from the Latin Limen meaning threshold was first coined by French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in his book ‘Rites de passage’(1908) and popularized by English anthropologist Victor Turner in ‘The Forest of Symbols’ (1964). Both however used the term in relation to core rituals in pre-industrial society signifying transitions from one social status to another (e.g., child to adult, unwed to wed, living to death and so on).
Only later was the term used in a more general fashion to mean a transition period of a more broad-spectrum nature.
I see the term as a universal descriptive mechanism of all transformative periods in life. What makes the term particularly interesting to my eyes is the emphasis on potential positivity due to the high ambiguity between stable states.
In this case then, instability is a positive attribute of a liminal state because it represents a state of affairs between origin and destination.
The attributes of liminality are necessarily ambiguous… Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial.
Victor Turner
Between origin and destination then we find instability, uncertainty, and ambiguity.
Instability refers to the density of the border between contexts and concepts.
Uncertainty refers to the content and ambiguity to the statements of self description.
Plunging into the fountain of all change is the original meaning of the term liminality.
Some musings :
Liminal states are known to be unsettling and indeed they are, however, it is this very unsettling that allows a very deep transformation to occur. It is as a matter of fact a very intense state of emotional upheaval that allows both a re-evaluation of one’s state and the perceptions of new openings, doors leading to fresh views and perspectives, and truckloads of available energy.
Depending on the conscious awareness capability of the individual the quantity and quality of the positive options of becoming are set.
There is a certain kind of silence and tranquility, that arises when in a state of liminality. At first sight this may seem paradoxical, but it is an appearance only. The state of liminality should be taken gently, gradually, and quietly.
Just as Reality is a multi-layered, multi structured hypercomplex situation, so is the state of liminality.
Though my interest presently, is in the individual liminality state, liminality can be applied also to societies, markets, nations and so on.
Takeaway
By knowing and applying the concept of liminality, states of transition in one’s life may become states of transformation. Collating the processes of instability, ambiguity and uncertainty in a quiet and ordered manner will increase the probability of exiting an in-between event in a positive setting.
Liminality can be used for liberation, fresh resolutions, new paths of actuation, renewed opportunities, and increasing one’s options of becoming. Being an independent act of self-creation, liminality is an inherent part of the course of personal evolution.
Thank you for reading.
