Lexicon for Liminality
Pursuing language that illuminates the here to there.
“We often learn most in places of dissonance. our endeavor is not to convince you of our arguments; rather, we are gesturing towards ways in which each of us can deepen into inquiry and embody practices of other ways of knowing, sensing, and being.”
– Alnoor Ladha & Lynn Murphy, Post Capitalism Philanthropy
All of us are familiar with the dissonance of change, the phase shift from one temporal posture to another. The shift from activity to activity, season to season. The disruption that comes with change – the space between one state of being and a new state of being – is an inbetween space, a liminality. From this space we can see what was, but we can’t always see what will be. In this middleness we often feel untethered, and in our highly dualistic ways of relating to our experience, we scratch and claw towards certainty, coherence, resolution, and understanding.
Yet, might there be value in lingering, just for a moment longer, in the inbetween? Might being present with experience of not knowing actually be the epistemological orientation we need? Perhaps growing in our comfort with not knowing is the only knowing that will get us to the other side of liminality. We are never ‘nowhere’, despite the feeling of being held in the void somewhere between the departure and the destination. The disorientation of the void might offer us an opportunity to name the thresholds. To make them real.
For those working at the front lines of transformation - the liminal spaces are a constant. Walking away from outdated empires of power and control, to building spaces of equity and equality, interconnectedness and care requires the constant embracing of pluralities.
In this spirit, we1 are launching a new project that we are calling the Lexicon of Liminality. It is both an exercise and an invitation in wording and naming the transitions that we are experiencing as a civilization. For those working at the front lines of transformation – those in activism, climate change, social justice, regenerative movements, human potential, and other domains – this has never been more important.
This Lexicon is not prescribing a direction, but is created to offer solace in sharing new words that emerge from the map of possibility. By articulating the ‘from–to’ we hope to spark reflection and language to help us make sense of our inbetween, and be better equipped to inhabit liminality.
Here are some of the transitions we find ourselves inhabiting:
From systems thinking to systems feeling
From unraveling to unfurling
From activism to ‘awe’ctivism
From thought leader to thought learner
From defeat to trim tab
From resources to relationships
From sustainable to regenerative
From cold data to warm data
From impact to influence
From interaction to intra-action
From new to nuanced
From future proofing to future readiness
From tethered to untethered
From blooming to rooting
From rooting to blooming
From fragile to antifragile
From design thinking to dream thinking
From wealth of business to health of people
From personalized to personal
From ego-system thinking to eco-system thinking
From knowledge worker to creative worker
From apathetic professional to enthusiastic amateur
From finite game to infinite game
From template to contemplate
From sustainable to regenerative
From GPS to north star
From creative certainty to creative confidence
From uh oh to ah ha
From amelioration to prototyping
From value chain to value network
From utopia to protopia
From pyramid thinking to spiral thinking
From formulas to principles
From self interest to self awareness
From or to and
From reflex to reflective
From disembodied to embodied
From lost to wandering
From parts to wholes
From certainty to invitation
From certainty to mystery
From burnout to rest
From ascending to expanding
From chronic optimism to grief
From coping to healing
From internalities to externalities
From zero-sum to omni-win
From me to we
We recognize that the English language may be limited in its ability to encapsulate the depth of these liminal spaces, we invite anyone to name liminal spaces they are witnessing or experiencing in any language.
Which ‘from–to’ are you experiencing? How would you name your inbetween? What words have been helpful in cultivating comfort with liminality. Let us know in the comments!
 | A guest post by
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 | A guest post by
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