Text:
Jitske Kramer
Published
27 May 2024
Reading time:
10 minutes
During major changes, we have to say goodbye to what we know, while much is still unclear. We are in a transition phase in many areas: a confusing in-between period when things are no longer as they were, but also not yet how they should or will be. Anthropologists call this interim liminality, a crucial phase for achieving transformation. Me, Jitske Kramer, wrote there the book Tricky times - don't be fooled about.
Liminality is an anthropological concept that has lain in a corner of academia for far too long. It is an essential concept that very few people still know and that can give us interpretation and direction in confusing times. It is about something simple and something very universal: the experience of bumping up against a border or being between two borders. In space, time or story. It shows how we as humanity have learned to give form and structure to these extraordinary experiences so that we can emerge transformed from them.
Do we join the traffic jam again? Or do we use this crisis to ask ourselves fundamentally different questions and make other things important?
Anthropology shows that people all over the world experience transformation processes in a similar way and that these globally always show the same three successive phases. These phases can be seen in changes at personal level, in organisations and in societies. Each phase is accompanied by rituals that facilitate and mark the transition between the phases. Beneath all unique cultural patterns lie deep human patterns that we always come back to because we are human.
A separation phase in which we leave the old behind. This means first acknowledging that things have to be different, followed by mourning and a power vacuum. For what will the new situation look like, how will contracts and merits be divided and who will decide? This heralds the next phase of uncertainty, the liminality. An intermediate phase in which we try to discover what we should start seeing as right and wrong in the new situation. In this phase, we look for new ways, new stories and cultural solutions. It is a creative phase that, if all goes well, turns into an integration phase. In the integration phase what was learned in the intermediate phase is implemented in the new reality. That means making choices to do things definitively differently, implementing new ideas and turning them into new procedures, laws and ways of doing things.
Liminality comes from the Latin limes, meaning threshold or boundary. It describes the time between an old and new situation. An interim time when the normal boundaries of behaviour and thinking relax, opening the way to imagination, renewal and destruction.
It is a period of transition in which a person (or people, or organisation) has no defined social role or position. An extraordinary time when what was is no longer there, and what will be is still unknown. Old stories we believed in are crumbling, but the new ones are yet to be formed. It is the space between A and B, between this and that. The space between the no longer and not yet. Betwixt and between. The space between stories. It is an extremely vulnerable period and very challenging for anyone in the middle of it.
During liminality, emotions shoot in all directions. On the one hand, the disappearance of old boundaries and structures gives an infinite sense of freedom, releasing a lot of energy, creativity and innovation. At the same time, the disappearance of certainties gives a particularly shaky feeling. In a liminal time, an extraordinary situation arises where hierarchies and established norms disappear, sacred symbols are mocked, authority in any form is questioned, authority is undermined and old rights are shaken up. In this interim, we lose shared meaning, coupled with a constant threat of imploding or exploding forces. Thoughts and opinions circle around in a kind of empty space without the stable reference points of aesthetics (what is beautiful and what is ugly), norms (what is right and what is wrong) and reality (what is true and what is not). This is not always pleasant, but very common and human. A liminal space offers an opportunity to revise cultural habits and redistribute entrenched privileges, but it requires good guidance and leadership.
From thinking in points and straight lines, liminality looks like chaos, but it is not.
Change is not a problem to be solved but an integral part of life. The path we walk is a sequence of all kinds of major and minor transformations and rites of passage. They form the core and thread of life. V
anfrom thinking in points and straight lines, liminality looks like chaos, but it is not. In the apparent chaos, we see a pattern in how people experience and structure transitions. A human existence without liminality is not possible; everything would stagnate. Life consists of a succession of routines and habits, as well as all kinds of coincidences and unexpected events that put us in unusual or even extraordinary situations. These are the moments that make you who you are, that shape your character, that bring renewal.
Liminality is an inevitable chaotic phase people have to go through during major changes and offers insane opportunities.
For instance, temporarily letting go of social structures and hierarchies makes it easier to analyse existing situations beyond preconceptions. It gives you space to discover yourself, let emotions flow freely and create new realities.
When you traverse liminality together with others, it creates a special bond and a deep, sometimes spiritual, connection. A shared liminality gives a sense of community, of communitas. It puts you in touch with nature, location and time. To experience and harness these beauties, it does require you to navigate through and past the risks of liminality.
Not everyone always agrees that something should change, and certainly not on what should change. Moreover, some have a lot to lose (status, money, position) and others have a lot to gain. And just when we need clear leadership and guidance in this, mistrust of leaders arises and authority is questioned. Which again makes sense, because today's leaders often have an interest in the old situation and it is highly questionable whether they will initiate the necessary changes.
Characteristic are a nostalgic longing for a (romanticised) past and a power struggle over who will hold the best cards. It is no longer A, but certainly not yet B, and this generates a lot of emotions and struggle. When the separation from the old is not properly and clearly guided, it results in constant resistance. Liminality is an uncomfortable and sometimes anxious time that we would prefer to skip, or walk around with a bow. When we do so for years, the tension mounts and the underlying problems grow worse.
We are in transition in many areas.
In liminal situations, the structures, habits and skills from the time of ordinary routine are not enough. Extraordinary situations require extraordinary approaches.
The question with liminality is always: who guides us through this chaos? Life is full of transitional moments: the day becomes night, we get sick and often fortunately better. And sometimes we don't. Love can happen to us and fall away again. We have no control over many things, can only get through them in a meaningful way. Not only individuals, also groups and entire societies go through all kinds of transitions. In our fear of change, we try to control, predict, prepare and plan everything. The trick is to become more comfortable with the whole process of change. As long as you try to stick to your planning, you feel determined and in control. But it is also exhausting. Once you surrender more, you feel the emotions that lay beneath the hard work.
Anthropology shows, that if no solid liminal leader rises, there is a high probability of tricksters and opportunists jump into this gap; people who use trickster logic and tactics, promising things that others want to hear, but which they cannot possibly deliver. Populists, for example. Or smart consultants. Or tech people with tech gadgets we are too eager to believe. And, with a bit of bad luck, these tricksters use online trolls to spread misery and increase chaos that they then profit from. The trickster is an insanely important archetype that we cannot live without and go crazy when we have too much of it, especially when people with evil intentions use trickster tactics for their own benefit.
Transformations can take a less erratic course if we make ourselves more resilient to the uncertainties and emotions that arise within ourselves and between people and interest groups during a change process. Liminality offers many opportunities, but also dangers. I mention five of them here. In The book Tricky Times read more here.
If we do not really break with old habits and do not dare to make new choices, we remain stuck in the meantime. We know somewhere that we have to change, but we don't succeed. Not tackling structural problems leads to long-term uncertainty and stress. Our society gets stuck in the meantime for another reason. By focusing on an unlimited value (infinite economic growth), we encourage unlimited behaviour and have made constant playing with boundaries normal in our culture. The sky is the limit, fake it till you make it. In a bounded world, sooner or later this will go wrong and Earth and humans will be exhausted.
We prefer to walk around the change pain. It all has to be fun and inspiring. As a kind of experience junkies we do want the rush of a special experience, but prefer not the pain of achieving actual change. Lots of ‘talking about’ and little ‘action to’. We dampen the emptiness we feel with excitement, comfort food and other means, leaving underlying problems to persist
When usual ideas about right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, true and false, are up for debate, it is unclear who or what we should believe. This is maddeningly confusing. Emotions, behaviour and stories are contagious. We are tempted to believe bizarre explanations and new divisions. Without a clear story, we invent one.
Trickster logic frees people from old ideas, shakes things up and provides space for innovation. Playing with boundaries and obviousness challenges people to decide whether something is wanted or unwanted. One of the favourite boundaries of trickster play is that between fact and fiction, which threatens to make playing with words and images more important than the actual content of reports and files. And that is tricky. The greatest danger comes not from people who exhibit trickster behaviour, but from people who are too resistant to half-truths, false promises and rock-solid lies. And that is almost all of us.
Fundamental changes inevitably involve power shifts. This can lead to intense and sometimes violent struggles over who sets the new course and who feels the consequences of change the most. To make a peaceful transition to a new situation, incumbents will also have to be willing to change. Not easy, as they often have strong interests in the old situation.
Unfortunately, the dangers of liminality are a good business model for many organisations and politicians. To achieve transformations, we will have to look in the mirror. Free ourselves from lies. Dare to break patterns. Not splitting but connecting. Asking questions and listening. Doubting and choosing. With leaders who carefully guide this emotional process, otherwise there will be rebellion against those who fail.
During liminality, we are, what I call, culturally lost. Cultures do not fall from the sky. People form cultures. Cultures shape people. Together, we make the world.
Jitske Kramer: ‘The Taylorian period of top-down and chopping up processes is over. We'll just go back to organising the way we have done for centuries: working together, listening to each other with a charismatic leader at a distance.’
During major changes, we have to say goodbye to what we know, while much remains unclear. Think of what we see happening in the energy transition, the climate approach, the necessary reforms in healthcare and education.
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We are lost but not lost