Each fall I seek a word, phrase, or verse to act as a north star of sorts for the coming year. I\u2019ve come to call them \u201cadvance words.\u201d Years past have included, \u201cLift your eyes,\u201d \u201cBack to basics,\u201d and \u201cBe strong and courageous.\u201d This year\u2019s word revealed itself very clearly on an early drive – \u201climinal.\u201d Deriving from the Latin of \u201cthreshold,\u201d liminal<\/i> describes a place of transition, an invitation to something more. My friend who is devoted to spiritual formation including a vow to relative poverty describes liminality as a \u201cvoluntary displacement\/disorientation for the sake of the transformation of one’s perspective and heart. It occurs when we are between stages in life and faith as if we have left one room and have yet to enter the next one\u201d (Taylor). It makes sense, then, that the God gave me that word in the car – leaving that which is known and not yet to the destination.<\/p>\n
I am living in at least four liminal spaces. One could argue that the whole epoch between the two advents is a liminal space. We live, move and have our being in a transition between an established and not yet fully realized kingdom. The world also lives between a pre and post-COVID reality, anticipating the \u201cnew normal.\u201d Personally, I find myself in a delayed transition for our Research and Development department at work, and at another level as I consider and am being considered for a new role. Liminality was made popular through anthropologists describing the transformation taking place as African boys were initiated by their elders into manhood. These initiation rites are always about leading the boy out of the world of business as usual and into the wilderness of liminal space (Taylor). I am walking in that wilderness.<\/p>\n
Innovation and future possibilities, too, have their own liminal space. While D\u2019Souza and Renner don\u2019t use the word, they describe this reality with an implicit invitation into something new. \u201cAt the edge between the known and the unknown there is a fertile place, full of possibility. Playing at the edge can lead us to experience fresh new learning, creativity, joy and wonder. The edge is the place where something new can emerge\u201d (Not Knowing, 21).<\/p>\n
I will explore this edge. Abide in its garden. Sit in the silence. Discover the possibilities. There\u2019s a whimsical nature to this journey as well (\u201cPlaying a the edge\u2026\u201d). I will catalog the postures, note the temptations back to the known, the status quo, the areas I\u2019ve found false security through \u201cmastering.\u201d The journeyer must embrace this threshold (a la Campbell), but take solace there will be Divine guidance. I will hold on with wavering confidence to the hope of \u201cnew learning, creativity, joy and wonder.\u201d These are the ingredients of a true innovation guide.<\/p>\n
This small piece is about introductions and invitations. I have been introduced and invited into a liminal space. This post is an introduction to reflections on liminality, innovation, and creativity. And an invitation\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are a dreamer come in
\nIf you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
\nA hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
\nIf you\u2019re a pretender come sit by my fire
\nFor we have some flax golden tales to spin
\nCome in!
\nCome in!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0– Shel Silverstein<\/span><\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n Ryan Taylor, Liminality<\/i> (Personal document shared with me).<\/p>\n Steven D\u2019Souza and Diana Renner, Not Knowing: The Art of Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity <\/i>(New York: LID Publishing, 2016).<\/p>\n Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends <\/i>(New York: Harper and Row, 1974).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each fall I seek a word, phrase, or verse to act as a north star of sorts for the coming year. I\u2019ve come to call them \u201cadvance words.\u201d Years past have included, \u201cLift your eyes,\u201d \u201cBack to basics,\u201d and \u201cBe strong and courageous.\u201d This year\u2019s word revealed itself very clearly on an early drive – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1579,1252,1866],"class_list":["post-26686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-innovation","tag-liminal","tag-renner-and-dsouza","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26687,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26686\/revisions\/26687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}