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LIMINOID AND LIMINAL SPACE – A TIME AND A PLACE FOR CHANGE
THEORY FROM THE ARCHETYPE OF INITIATION
Liminoid and liminal space
Liminoid and liminal space, according to Robert L. Moore, are terms used to describe a “space between” or a transitional period of psychological transformation. The liminal space is a place where the individual is betwixt and between the known and unknown, a state of liminality. The liminoid space is a place where the individual is able to explore the unknown, to take risks and to experience something new. It is a place where the individual can create a sense of self and identity.
I find this idea of a space for transition very interesting. We are used to the idea of retreats or perhaps reflective holidays somewhere remote. Marriage is often associated with a place of ceremony and a honeymoon as key elements of the transitional process. Often rites of passage are associated with quests: travelling somewhere new perhaps as a gap year prior to university or an around-the-world cruise to mark retirement.
Communitas
Moore writes of…The tendency to have regimentation in cults or other initiate regroups like aboriginal initiations or marine boot camp. You dress like ,you wear your hair alike and you deemphasise the differences of status. Hippie culture was a form of pseudo liminality breaking out in American culture, the uniform was jeans and so forth. Communitas is an important term it means the kind of social relationship that focuses on the equality of people and their lack of status differences it is very warm one to one direct the kind of experience that occurs to people in NYC when the lights are out what happens when a catastrophe comes along.
I have myself noticed this concept of Communitas when a whole community comes together with equal purpose and humility, examples include after Hillsborough, Grenfell and on those Thursdays when the British pubic would clap for the NHS.
How should we use this understanding of the importance of time place and space for facilitating personal and organisational change?
CULTS AND COMMUNITAS
The psychological factors that allow a cult to attract and retain members include a sense of belonging and acceptance, a shared purpose in life, a strong leader or charismatic figure, a sense of security and safety, a sense of urgency and commitment, and the promise of spiritual enlightenment or a better life. Cults often offer unconditional acceptance, unconditional love, and a sense of community, which can be attractive to individuals who are looking for an answer to life’s difficult questions. Additionally, the intense emotional atmosphere created by the cult can be addictive, as it can provide a sense of belonging, identity, and purpose that can be difficult to find in the outside world.
The difference between a cult and communitas is that a cult is typically a group of people who are united by a common belief system, and whose members adhere to a strict set of rules and regulations. They are often led by a charismatic leader or figurehead. In contrast, communitas is a type of social organization characterized by a lack of hierarchy, shared beliefs, and mutual support among members. It is usually found among smaller, more intimate groups, and is based on a sense of equality and solidarity among members.
APPLICATION TO CORPORATE CHANGE
From cults and communitas, we can learn the importance of creating a sense of belonging and acceptance, having a shared purpose in life, and having a strong leader or charismatic figure to guide the group. We can also learn the importance of providing a sense of security and safety, urgency and commitment, and the promise of spiritual enlightenment or a better life.
In terms of corporate change programmes, these same principles can be applied. It is important to create a sense of acceptance and belonging for employees, and to provide a shared purpose and vision for the company. Additionally, having a strong leader or figurehead to guide the organization can be beneficial in ensuring employees are engaged and motivated. Providing a sense of security, urgency, and commitment to the change programme can also help to ensure that employees are willing to embrace the changes. Finally, offering a sense of spiritual enlightenment or a better life can help to motivate employees to strive for excellence
It seems to me a key distinguishing factor will be the ego and motivation of the leader: whether they work selflessly as a tribal elder to support transition or they are instead egotistical and manipulative for their own ends, or perhaps neither and effectively staring a process that they cannot contain or complete and therefore leaving their community stranded lost or with unresolved grief having started a change process that they cannot complete. Unable to more forward or back. I suspect this is where a lot of self-harm and burn-out happens.
CHANGING OR HARDENING
One of the challenges in transformational change is the extent to which we relinquish the past embrace the change and move forward with the future in Jungian terms this is the process of death rebirth and moving forward.
It is the individuation process where the shadow and the persona are once again realigned reconciled and we move forward. These significant life changes at key critical points can be transformational where we are metaphorically prepared to die and be reborn.
However, the reality is that in most change projects the individual is not prepared to die, to sacrifice, to be reborn but instead the ego sees this challenge as something to be resisted I something to be stoically endured and so far from provoking change it reinforces the persona. The mask we wear becomes thicker and even more glued to us but realistically more foreign to us. The distance between the persona and the shadow becomes greater and we start living a lie the scale of which is measured by the distance between our conformity with the cultural expectations of the organisation and our own inner soul.
This gap does not exist where we have been through personal transformation and change and we find ourselves reconciled and renewed a better and different person for the next challenge ahead.
The challenge of change therefore is not to create the environment where people batten down the hatches and stoically move forward but one in which people embrace the opportunity for change and explore themselves and the organisation and how both can be renewed recharged and move forward
The skill of the ritual leader, shaman or elder is the ability to facilitate a process that really does create a safe environment for personal and transformation and change as opposed to create a storm in which people comply albeit with lip service to the change but realistically without personal transformation
Notes based on The Archetype of Initiation: Sacred Space, Ritual Process, and Personal Transformation by Robert L. Moore
TimHJRogers
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Useful Glossary
Communitas is a Latin noun commonly referring either to an unstructured community in which people are equal, or to the very spirit of community. Examples might be how people band together for NHS Thursday in 2020, or in response to Hillsborough or Grenfell.
Complex is an unconscious organized set of memories, associations, fantasies, expectations, and behavior patterns or tendencies around a core element which is accompanied by strong emotions.
Cultural Complex is a distinctive pattern of activities, beliefs, rites, and traditions associated with one central feature of life in a particular culture. An example is the cluster of activities, ceremonies, folklore, songs, and stories associated with the hunting and use of the buffalo by Native American peoples.
Individuation describes a process of self-realization—the discovery of one’s life purpose or what one believes to be the meaning of life, for example
Liminal space refers to the place a person is in during a transitional period. It’s a gap, and can be emotional (like a divorce) or metaphorical (like a decision). Often linked to ritual or ceremony like initiation, marriage, rights of passage.
Liminoid means having characteristics of a liminal experience, but optional and not involving the resolution of an issue or formality of elders, shaman, leaders or other organising influence.
Persona is the social face the individual presented to the world—”a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual” [Carl Jung]
Shadow, as described by Carl Jung, is the unconscious part of our character or personality that does not align with the ideal version of what we’re aiming for, this being the version of us Jung called the ego ideal
