Liminal Space and the Praxis of Spirituality

Like most schools, my school has a theme for the year. It is a method to create momentum and a continuum of dialogue throughout the year, connecting the beginning, middle, and end. Pretty standard. This year’s theme is: “Opening Doors”. I think it is a fine theme. Not too strange or esoteric. Easy to access and easy to apply to most aspects of my school. For example, I teach at a co-divisional school with about 1700 students. It is one school with a boys division and a girls division; about 70% of the classes are single-gender. So, the idea of “opening doors”, in the metaphorical sense, works well as we try to centralize curriculum and create more dialogue between the two divisions. I particularly like the language that our new principal uses; he describes the process of “opening doors” as “liminal”. In an anthropological sense, “liminal space” describes a sense of disorientation or confusion one experiences as they move from a space characterized as comfortable or predictable to another space, best understood as different or unfamiliar. Maybe it is not the “opening” of doors that we are really talking about here in education, but “crossing the threshold” that matters. Maybe we can think of education in an anthropological sense as an entering into that liminal space precisely for the sake of growth and maturation into what better resembles the Authentic Self.

 

Trinitarian Abbey in Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland. The facade or door of the abbey is meant to be impressive and to inspire passersby to contemplate what is inside. Between the "study" of the door and the "praxis" of crossing the threshold, there is a an act of humility and relationship; the image of the Trinity. (photo P. Smith).

            A theologian I studied under several years ago uses a term to refer to these liminal spaces within the context of Faith and Faith development. He calls liminal spaces or “thresholds” a “praxis of spirituality”. Without going too much into his theology (which is quite deep and profound), he teaches that there are three stages in the development of a relationship with God. I’m using my own terms here four the sake of ease and clarity. Essentially, he presumes (like most 20th Century theologians) that we can encounter God in the created world and our human history and sacred history are deeply connected. Basically, everything around us is an opportunity for encounter and Revelation. The first step, then, is our intellectual acquiescence to this Truth and, basically, the academic study of a particular object within time and space. This theologian might suggest we look at and study “poverty”, for example. The second step is to actually engage in that material object. For example, we can encounter poverty through service or intentional poverty or some sort of social advocacy, although the best method is direct contact with that object. This is the threshold. It must be uncomfortable, at least at first. It certainly is jarring as it forces us from our own comfort to a certain level of discomfort. This theologian calls this phase the “praxis of spirituality”. That is, as we move from the antisceptic study of poverty to the less hygienic embracing of poverty, we come to know what poverty is on a deeper level. But this is not enough. This is not the real Truth of the experience.

            In the case of poverty, there is a relationship between the intellectual knowledge of the first step and the experiential knowledge of encountering poverty. Essentially, there is a relationship between looking at a door and going through a doorway. There is a process that we go through where we decide to let go of the ease of studying poverty or looking at the door and actually acquiesce to the mystery and potential danger of encountering poverty or going through the door. Simply put, the relationship between the two is best described in terms of humility or vulnerability. But we might never notice this relationship unless we engage in the third step: reflection.

            As teachers, every day we prepare for encountering our coworkers and students. We sometimes spend hours writing lesson plans and organizing materials. We study our students. But then, if we are actually doing our job, we move from the first step to the praxis of spirituality and we encounter our students, Truly through humility. But at the end of the day, literally, if we do not take the time to reflect on the process of entering that liminal space, that praxis of spirituality, we will not see exactly what has happened. What has occurred or what should occur in teaching our students is an anthropological event of spiritual proportions. I have already said it and if you were paying attention, you already saw that the movement from intellectual knowledge to experiential knowledge is Trinitarian in the sense that it is an act of humility for the sake of relationship. The third step is the reflection where we realize that in the praxis of spirituality we are, in fact, encountering the face of God. For teachers, we must reflect. We must see that entering into liminal spaces and a praxis of spirituality is coming face to face with God, in a sense. If we reflect enough, perhaps we will see how this is exactly what we need to help our students to do in all of their subjects. Indeed, the movement from pure self-oriented comfort to relationship-centered disorientation is part of the Authentic Self, and that should be the goal of our lessons.