Beyond the Fields We Know (II)

There are strange worlds beyond liminal spaces, but there are also times when liminal spaces themselves perform a special function and act as interstitial or "between" places for a bored or weary psyche, offering a brief, even momentary escape from that which is mundane and prosaic. These are the twilight or transitional places where the veils between our own plane and the uncharted territories are thin, where possibilities are mysterious and never-ending, where one may encounter all sorts of things if one is courageous, carries a little protection and is willing to take the next brave step, across the threshold into the unknown.

Within liminal spaces and beyond them lies a dimension enfolding everything which has ever existed or happened in the cosmos, every thought and dream, every sensation and movement, each and every possibility - a plane of existence which is characterized by flowing movement and spontaneous glowing transformation, where anything at all can happen and one should expect the unexpected. Is this just dancing in the dark on my part? The late American physicist David Boehm articulated such ideas wonderfully in his work on the realm he called implicate order.

Here be dragons was an expression used by early map makers to indicate that regions shown on their creations were unknown and possibly dangerous territory, and they are also good words for journeying beyond the fields we know. Traveller beware - there may be dragons lurking within a liminal space and waiting just beyond the portal, but there are also wonders to be seen, and wisdom, adventure and enlightenment await us at every turning we encounter on the other side. To pass through the gate and travel beyond the fields we know is to set off on a grand creative adventure. We do it every time we write a morning page in our journals, craft a thoughtful blog entry, paint a moonrise or ramble with camera in hand, and we do not go alone.

(to be continued)