The Glory of the Liminal

A portal is an opening. A place that is neither here nor there, but in between. This is an often-unloved concept among us. As humans we crave certainty and structure. We believe in polarity – light/dark, day/night, hot/cold, masculine/feminine, etc. Accepting polarity is how we survive. It allows us to make sense of our world. According to some, it is the essence of polarity that is responsible for all of nature and the natural world. But where did this polarity come from? It must emanate from something that is both. To some, this is one divine creator.

When going through a portal there is a moment when you’re not in the place where you started, and also not completely in your final destination. In this way, our whole lives are portals. We are constantly building on who we were on our way to who we will be. This process can fill us with so much anxiety. Bad habits and old ways of thinking may seem to haunt us, while “our new life” seems constantly out of reach. What if we thought of our lives as beautiful portals? Could this lessen some of the shame and fear that may swirl within us day-to-day? Your life is a portal between here and there. The only way is to keep going through it. There will be so many stops and starts along the way. Times we may retrace our steps. Times we run, and times we move along at a snail’s pace. But still, with each breath, we are moving through. What a beautiful and calming thought to bring to mind.

The other thing about portals is that they serve as a partition between two spaces. Some people see them as separating and others will see the portal as uniting. A portal is both. A portal knows the difference between both sides because it is open to both sides. A portal knows how both sides are the same because its center is where both sides meet – agree. A portal is a place of balance and harmony. This is the “love and light” of liminality. But there’s more. A portal doesn’t fit squarely in one space or the other. A portal can’t make a home with half of itself, it floats in between unclaimed. There can be a loneliness to it. Not only this, but it can also be the reservoir for the projections from both sides.

Take good and evil. People on “Side A” do things they consider good with the intentions of what “Side B” considers evil. People on “Side B” do things “Side A” considers evil in the name of good. Who’s truth reigns supreme? A portal is a call to bravery; an invitation to reflect on what you believe and why and accept it. Liminality is mysterious, not easily defined, not for the faint. Right now, many people feel that we are at an apex of division. Issues of race, gender, class, and politics have made homes of extremes. One person’s savior is another’s tyrant. Maybe it’s the perfect time to embrace the fact that we’re all “going through” and practice radical self-acceptance and radical compassion knowing that there isn’t a  “here” or “there” that isn’t already in us all.