The Wonder of Liminal Space / Abandon the Pursuit of the Concrete

A noted Franciscan theologian and writer, Richard Rohr, describes liminal space as that place where we are “betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. There alone is our old world left behind, while we are not yet sure of the new existence. That’s a good space where newness can begin. Get there often and stay as long as you can by whatever means possible… This is the sacred space where the old world is able to fall apart, and a bigger world is revealed.”

look at me

More than being about a specific place or a particular attitude, liminal space is about the way we walk through our days. It is about how we carry ourselves. It is about our ability to suspend judgment about what we believe; about our willingness to remain open minded about those things that we do not, as yet, understand. It is about a willingness to be shown. There is the sense that something greater than us is at work here. It is a feeling that something is tugging at us and we are without the necessary words to describe it. It is a little like those moments on an airplane, as you are taxiing out to the runway. Logic, faith, relief, fear are all vying for your attention, and you are uncertain about what will happen next. In some amount of time you are able to relax and let go. (For the record, those moments of moving down the runway at the speed able to take you skyward are my favorite. It is all out of my control).

Having been fortunate enough to experience this notion of liminal space quite often, I have the desire to just stay in that space without being driven to “figure it out”. There is a sense of “enoughness”, like living in a house with extra bedrooms and bathrooms, just more room than you need. The beauty of this experience lives right in that spot. It is a spot that you just do not know. You do not know what to call it, where it comes from, why is it happening and whether or not it will come back! It appears larger than a framework you have known before and you are quite thrilled to experience these “new digs”.

The image of liminal space conjures an image of expansiveness for me; it is just that place where we experience the limitlessness of God. Part of that experience includes our willingness to be held in that place. And there we sit without even the words to describe what we are experiencing. It is a knowing that we have been invited to participate in something that is larger than those somethings that we may have known before. No secret handshake is required, simply my yes. My yes, to God. It is that willingness to accept and fall in love with all that we just do not know. We are called to abandon our pursuit of the concrete and to throw ourselves willingly into all that is Mystery. It can be very unsettling, freedom often is.

There is a heartfelt gladness when we recognize that liminal space signifies that thresholds are waiting to be revealed in all of our lives. We are on the edge of a new spot in our lives. We replace something that has been very familiar and comfortable with something that we do not, as yet, know. It is in this most vulnerable spot that we are invited to show ourselves to our God. It is not about learning something new. It is about experiencing the fullness of everything that is.

We are called to pay attention to these unknown and unspoken spaces in our lives. We are called listen and respond to them. We are called to plant ourselves in those spaces between the joy of what we have known and the anticipation of what we can never know. And we listen. And we gently allow ourselves to be moved through that sacred space in order that we might live in the light that it provides. We do not direct. We only listen. We listen so that we might hear the story that God has entrusted to us. We hold sacred the process and the willingness to be uncomfortably led. Most of all we live our days with the assurance that God has reached in to our lives and written on our heart that “all is well”. And we celebrate those moments of absolute faith where blessing reaches all the way to the mystery of the heart; that place of true liminal space.