Liminal Spaces

 

I’ve been thinking about liminal spaces a lot lately.

It’s an incredibly intriguing concept: a liminal space is essentially a transitional space. Think of it as a waiting area – you land here to cross over to another point in space/time.

’Liminality’ comes from the Latin word ‘līmen,’ meaning “a threshold and is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of rites (according to wikipedia.) – Think of it as the in-between stage where you’ve left something behind but you haven’t quite reached your destination.

I had a strange feeling hanging in the airport terminal at 3 AM, waiting for a flight, half-asleep, sipping an okay cup of coffee. And as I wandered through the empty stores and the deserted lobby, nothing felt real and every responsibility felt like it was miles and miles away. I liked that weird energy. It felt like I was quietly floating in this limbo we call “existence.”

I also love the space between wakefulness and sleep. That moment where the world starts dissolving, reality begins to warp and my dreams start to take over.

And just off the top of my head, time flows so differently in these spaces/settings:

• Highway food-stops at/after midnight when you’re on a road trip
• Highways after dark
• Bridges
• Empty parks after sunset
• Abandoned parking lots
• Sunday nights
• A theater stage with no one in the audience seats
• My roof after it just stops raining
• A petrol station in the middle of nowhere

If you’re simply aware of this glorious concept, it adds a certain magical essence to your life. It may feel kind of unsettling when you land in a liminal space, but if you can make sense of the idea, and open up to it, it can be a doorway to some wonderful, eye-opening experiences and revelations.

It’s nice to slow down, pay attention and learn something new when I’m hanging here. This space is an ultimate teacher to me despite (or because of?) all the confusion and anxiety I tend to sometimes feel when I’m here.