We are living in a liminal time, in a liminal world.
The concept of "liminality" involves a between-ness, the "'tween". It is a time, a place, or any other transitional thing that is neither one nor the other, neither the old nor the new, but a transitional position between the two,
AJ at "The Why Files" has an entire video explaining the concept, with examples:
Liminality leaves most folks with a feeling of anxiety, often a troubled feeling that one can not quite put a finger on, but an unsettled feeling nonetheless. It happens when we find ourselves in a transitional time or place, where we are no longer anchored on the old, nor have we a firm grip on what comes next. We feel adrift, in an alien place, and desperately want to be firmly in one or the other, but not "between".
These are the times we find ourselves in currently. We are unmoored, adrift, moving, but seemingly without a direction, and without a compass to point the direction out. It's leaving most of us feeling unsettled, anxious, despondent. What was, is no more, and we have no soil to root ourselves in any longer, and no clear view of what's on the other side, or how to get there..
Because we feel this way, we have a desire to lash out and place the blame on the "other", whichever polarity is opposite our own, "They" are either propelling us into a reality we don't want to go in to, or else retarding our progress in getting to shore again, where we can firmly plant our feet and become grounded once again. Which one of those it is depends entirely on our beginning orientation. An example is "Conservatives vs, Liberals". Which one we place the blame on is whichever is opposite to the place where we once were, and felt comfortable.
So, it's either "those damned Liberals are wrecking our world!" or "those damned Conservatives are blocking our progress!"... but, in reality, it is neither. We are simply in a place of liminality, a time of transition, and neither Conservatives nor Liberals have any control over the way the wind is blowing us at all. We are simply in a time of change, and neither "they", nor any other group ("the Elites", for example), has any damned control over the situation at all. it just IS, and it's just in flux. Where it ends up is anyone's guess, and under no one's control. That's just about as unsettling as anything else, until you realize a few things.
First, this is nothing new to the human experience. It happens ever time a civilization collapses, in the in-between time before a new one coalesces.
It happened around 1180 BC, during the Bronze Age collapse. It happened at the end of the Roman Empire, what is now called "The Dark Ages" came before a new civilization and social order arose - the Renaissance. It happened in Russia during the 1917 revolution, and again some 70 years later when the Soviet Union collapsed, before the Russian federation became a thing. It happened in America, first during the American Revolution, then 80 years or so later during the Civil War. That last one was the transitional period from a true Republican form of government to a more centralized and authoritarian form of government called a "democracy".
It has happened time and time again, all around the world, in various times and various places, although not often in all places all at once. Some transitions were larger, and some smaller - the fall of Rome was a larger one, the collapse of the Soviet Union a smaller one, but the conditions and the way folks felt at those times and in those places were and are always the same. They feel unsettled and anxious until something new and substantial comes along.
We also need to recognize that none of us, neither "side", in in control of it. Instead, it has a randomness and chaos brought about by the swirling eddy currents created by everyone trying to seize control all at the same time. The tussle and the struggle of that produces chaotic vortices, that will continue to swirl and destroy - as well as create - until it settles back down into the new system, whatever that may be. We all have some small degree of influence over the eventual outcome, but none of has, or even can have, absolute control of it. The outcome is actually determined by all of those little bitty bites of control that we each have. The new system forms itself out of those.
Understand as well that this is nothing new, nothing that humanity has not survived over and over again on multiple occasions. We will survive again through this one as well. Perhaps not all of us individually, but humanity as a whole will continue onward, forging the Brave New World to come in the aftermath of the fall of the last one we had.
All we can really do, as individuals, family units, and communities, is to hold on for dear life. Just ride this spinning raft until is settles on a beach somewhere, and enjoy the ride as much as we can until that time comes. Understand that the time WILL eventually come that it settles back down again, and order is once again restored. It may not be the same order we had gotten used to before, and probably won't be, because it seldom is, but it WILL come again, and is not under the control of any one faction of us, but rather under the micro-control of all of us, thousands of tiny cuts that will eventually lead to the shape of the final sculpture.
We, individually and in communities, can control NOTHING that is beyond the length of our own arms... and the world is much bigger than that. We can have a small, local influence, but that which comes will be much wider than our reach. We must be prepared to adapt to whatever it is. Adaptability is the greatest strength humans posses. It's gotten us through all, each and every one, of the previous liminalities that humanity has endured and conquered.
As a final thought, Douglas Adams had it exactly right in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - DON'T PANIC! It'll all eventually work out. The less stress you bring upon yourself by worrying over an inevitability that you have no personal control over, the better.
.
The concept of "liminality" involves a between-ness, the "'tween". It is a time, a place, or any other transitional thing that is neither one nor the other, neither the old nor the new, but a transitional position between the two,
AJ at "The Why Files" has an entire video explaining the concept, with examples:
Liminality leaves most folks with a feeling of anxiety, often a troubled feeling that one can not quite put a finger on, but an unsettled feeling nonetheless. It happens when we find ourselves in a transitional time or place, where we are no longer anchored on the old, nor have we a firm grip on what comes next. We feel adrift, in an alien place, and desperately want to be firmly in one or the other, but not "between".
These are the times we find ourselves in currently. We are unmoored, adrift, moving, but seemingly without a direction, and without a compass to point the direction out. It's leaving most of us feeling unsettled, anxious, despondent. What was, is no more, and we have no soil to root ourselves in any longer, and no clear view of what's on the other side, or how to get there..
Because we feel this way, we have a desire to lash out and place the blame on the "other", whichever polarity is opposite our own, "They" are either propelling us into a reality we don't want to go in to, or else retarding our progress in getting to shore again, where we can firmly plant our feet and become grounded once again. Which one of those it is depends entirely on our beginning orientation. An example is "Conservatives vs, Liberals". Which one we place the blame on is whichever is opposite to the place where we once were, and felt comfortable.
So, it's either "those damned Liberals are wrecking our world!" or "those damned Conservatives are blocking our progress!"... but, in reality, it is neither. We are simply in a place of liminality, a time of transition, and neither Conservatives nor Liberals have any control over the way the wind is blowing us at all. We are simply in a time of change, and neither "they", nor any other group ("the Elites", for example), has any damned control over the situation at all. it just IS, and it's just in flux. Where it ends up is anyone's guess, and under no one's control. That's just about as unsettling as anything else, until you realize a few things.
First, this is nothing new to the human experience. It happens ever time a civilization collapses, in the in-between time before a new one coalesces.
It happened around 1180 BC, during the Bronze Age collapse. It happened at the end of the Roman Empire, what is now called "The Dark Ages" came before a new civilization and social order arose - the Renaissance. It happened in Russia during the 1917 revolution, and again some 70 years later when the Soviet Union collapsed, before the Russian federation became a thing. It happened in America, first during the American Revolution, then 80 years or so later during the Civil War. That last one was the transitional period from a true Republican form of government to a more centralized and authoritarian form of government called a "democracy".
It has happened time and time again, all around the world, in various times and various places, although not often in all places all at once. Some transitions were larger, and some smaller - the fall of Rome was a larger one, the collapse of the Soviet Union a smaller one, but the conditions and the way folks felt at those times and in those places were and are always the same. They feel unsettled and anxious until something new and substantial comes along.
We also need to recognize that none of us, neither "side", in in control of it. Instead, it has a randomness and chaos brought about by the swirling eddy currents created by everyone trying to seize control all at the same time. The tussle and the struggle of that produces chaotic vortices, that will continue to swirl and destroy - as well as create - until it settles back down into the new system, whatever that may be. We all have some small degree of influence over the eventual outcome, but none of has, or even can have, absolute control of it. The outcome is actually determined by all of those little bitty bites of control that we each have. The new system forms itself out of those.
Understand as well that this is nothing new, nothing that humanity has not survived over and over again on multiple occasions. We will survive again through this one as well. Perhaps not all of us individually, but humanity as a whole will continue onward, forging the Brave New World to come in the aftermath of the fall of the last one we had.
All we can really do, as individuals, family units, and communities, is to hold on for dear life. Just ride this spinning raft until is settles on a beach somewhere, and enjoy the ride as much as we can until that time comes. Understand that the time WILL eventually come that it settles back down again, and order is once again restored. It may not be the same order we had gotten used to before, and probably won't be, because it seldom is, but it WILL come again, and is not under the control of any one faction of us, but rather under the micro-control of all of us, thousands of tiny cuts that will eventually lead to the shape of the final sculpture.
We, individually and in communities, can control NOTHING that is beyond the length of our own arms... and the world is much bigger than that. We can have a small, local influence, but that which comes will be much wider than our reach. We must be prepared to adapt to whatever it is. Adaptability is the greatest strength humans posses. It's gotten us through all, each and every one, of the previous liminalities that humanity has endured and conquered.
As a final thought, Douglas Adams had it exactly right in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - DON'T PANIC! It'll all eventually work out. The less stress you bring upon yourself by worrying over an inevitability that you have no personal control over, the better.
.
![[Image: m6Lj0Pf.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/m6Lj0Pf.jpg)
![[Image: xhgZ3PZ.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/xhgZ3PZ.jpg)
![[Image: QlEVASw.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/QlEVASw.jpg)
In real life I'm not Highlander badass. Don't think I'd survive very long, but I get you on the simpler times.