I love this! Is liminal space also at the frontier of knowledge? The murky creation of a new product category? The changing of a norm? The toppling of a conventional wisdom?
I think it's anytime that you feel out of your area of expertise, when you're pushing boundaries. When something feels like it's at your fingertips but you don't have it yet.
In anthropology, liminality (from Latin limen 'a threshold')[1] is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete.[2] During a rite's liminal stage, participants "stand at the threshold"[3] between their previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and a new way (which completing the rite establishes).
I feel it's a space where you know that what you thought was true isn't, but you don't yet have something to replace it. I mean, liminal literally means "on the threshold" so I suppose it could be personal or a group.
Ex.
Is liminal space also at the frontier of knowledge?
When you have an experiment disproving Newtonian physics but there's no quantum theory.
The murky creation of a new product category?
Maybe? When you realize that current marketing isn't optimized but aren't sure how to differentiate?
The changing of a norm?
Work from home as default. We now know it's possible but cultural norms haven't become standardized.
I guess my thinking is that liminal spaces are opportunities for growth, both personally and in groups. Because you've reached a point where what you know is true has outgrown your "muscle memory" or your institutional knowledge or your SOPs. So you can use this opportunity to push past your comfort zone or you can sit there.
I wonder how this fits with the "useful, not true" idea
I love this! Is liminal space also at the frontier of knowledge? The murky creation of a new product category? The changing of a norm? The toppling of a conventional wisdom?
I think it's anytime that you feel out of your area of expertise, when you're pushing boundaries. When something feels like it's at your fingertips but you don't have it yet.
So, it's more personal and subjective, rather than a shared space?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality
In anthropology, liminality (from Latin limen 'a threshold')[1] is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete.[2] During a rite's liminal stage, participants "stand at the threshold"[3] between their previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and a new way (which completing the rite establishes).
I feel it's a space where you know that what you thought was true isn't, but you don't yet have something to replace it. I mean, liminal literally means "on the threshold" so I suppose it could be personal or a group.
Ex.
Is liminal space also at the frontier of knowledge?
When you have an experiment disproving Newtonian physics but there's no quantum theory.
The murky creation of a new product category?
Maybe? When you realize that current marketing isn't optimized but aren't sure how to differentiate?
The changing of a norm?
Work from home as default. We now know it's possible but cultural norms haven't become standardized.
I guess my thinking is that liminal spaces are opportunities for growth, both personally and in groups. Because you've reached a point where what you know is true has outgrown your "muscle memory" or your institutional knowledge or your SOPs. So you can use this opportunity to push past your comfort zone or you can sit there.
I wonder how this fits with the "useful, not true" idea