
As I mentioned in my last blog posts, I had two experiences in the forest that were contrasted by only my internal orientation: whether I was in a logical/projecting mind, or in a liminal/receptive mind. As the two are parts of a whole living experience, the latter has shrunk over time for the collective. We are experiencing a collapse of our connection to the More Than Human World. And I’d like to welcome you back.
At the threshold of connection is receptivity.
In order to rediscover our place “in the family of things” we need to develop a keen awareness and open heart. This openness and warm humility topples us from the “top of the food chain” and places us shoulder to shoulder with all the beings present on this small blue dot. Liminality helps me shake off the conditioning of the Tamed World - the expectations, the stress, and routine. With access to it, I feel more calm, creative and way more patient. For real.
Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep first coined the term liminality in 1909 to identify the time between rites of passage in an individual's life. In the many years since the meaning has remained generally neutral, but expanded and applied to elucidate any transitional period from a material macro scale (think the COVID-19 lockdowns) down to personal sacred moments like my hour spent at the Laurel Creek Conservation Centre in 1989 to prolonged states of wonder in between life punctuations.
At its core, what is true about liminality is that it is a suspended animation in which we are neither here nor there; because it is not a place. It is a space:
A paradox wherein time is elastic and the only certain thing is what lies beyond the door is a mystery.
Now I can only recall snippets of verses, the full poems I wrote that day have been lost to time, but the impression the forest made on me is indelible. It is a place I can now trust to inspire communion, curiosity, and reverence. 34 years after my initial encounter with the More Than Human World - I am swinging this ship 360 degrees and making my way back to where this story started.
Back to my Senses.
Back to Wonder.
Back to the Forest.
Commenti