What's Going On?

I do my best in this blog to share uplifting inspirational messages and insights that will serve to support others on their spiritual journeys. Today as I began writing, I wasn’t sure I would be in a space to offer anything uplifting or insightful.

To be perfectly honest, I was feeling weary, lonely, confused, and apathetic. I could not seem to muster the motivation for much of anything, including writing this post. I wondered if it was a mild episodic depression. I knew I was not clinically depressed. I just knew nothing interested me. I started to read and soon found my mind wandering. Nothing I read did the trick of lifting my spirits or inspiring me. In fact, earlier as I was reading I felt the sudden urge to throw the book across the room. I resisted, however. Maybe I should have given in. It might have been cathartic.

I chose to stop right where I was, go within and ask, “What’s Going On?”

Then, I was reminded of a book I ordered and received a while back but hadn’t read. It is a publication of The Center for Action and Contemplation, the organization founded by Fr. Richard Rohr. The book is one of a series entitled Oneing – An Alternative Orthodoxy. This one is a collection of articles focused on the topic, “Liminal Space.”

As I began to read, the Universe through Fr. Rohr and the first three pages of the introduction in this little book, reminded me what I have been experiencing and continue to move through. It is “liminality.” Fr. Rohr says,

“Liminality is a form of holding the tension between one space and another. It is in these transitional moments of our lives that authentic transformation can happen. Otherwise, it is just business as usual and an eternally boring, status quo existence.”

He further says,

“[We stand] on the threshold between who we are and who we can become, if we are willing to let go of what holds us back…If we are able to stand it and stand there, liminality is likely to induce an inner crisis.”

I know that I am not alone. I know that many, if not most of us, are experiencing liminality in one form or another. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our usual way of being. It has created for us an opportunity to be in the space between what was and what will be. The uncertainly can be disconcerting and disheartening.

The enforced distancing between us and those we love and care about in itself creates tension. We are wired for connection. When that need is not met, we feel the pain of it. It can stimulate episodic depression, loneliness, and confusion.

In addition, the racial unrest and political climate we are currently experiencing has added to tension we feel whether or not we are consciously aware of it. Each of us participates in the collective consciousness and each of us is affected by it in one way or another. We are in a transitional space in our country, indeed in the world. 

While liminality can be a powerful space in which to be because of the opportunity for transformation, it can also be an uncomfortable space. It invites us to question everything we think we know and everything we have thought ourselves to be. It invites us to release all that we have allowed to hold us back from being the full expression of the Christ that is our potential.

It is tempting to do whatever we can to avoid the feeling associated with liminality. We may use food, shopping, sugar, alcohol, sex, drugs or many other escape mechanisms. The greatest opportunity for transformation, however, as challenging as it may be, is to be present with the feelings. It is important that we do our best not to avoid them, push them down or judge ourselves for having them. They can be our teachers and our guides.

If you are experiencing liminality, I encourage you not to engage in patterns of unhealthy behavior. I can personally speak to this because there are many that are all too familiar to me. Likewise, while it is important and necessary to spend time alone, please do not isolate. I encourage you to reach out to someone who can support you, someone who will listen without judgment and without trying to “fix” it for you. We are in this together. We need each other!

What’s Going On?

We are in liminal space, individually and collectively. This is a pivotal time in the evolution of human consciousness. We have an opportunity to participate and engage consciously in the process.

I encourage you to know that we are birthing a new reality. It will not be painless. It will not be without challenges. Keep breathing. It will be worth it for ourselves and for those who will stand upon our shoulders.