A Space Known as Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury. Moon Image from Zyntara

I have learnt a new word:

“Liminal”.

It fascinated me because it seemed relevant to brain injury. I saw a link between the word liminal and traumatic brain injury.

Let me fill you in on what happened:

In Tasmania, Australia, each year there is a festival over winter solstice called Dark MOFO. The festival has many of the challenging, quirky, and wonderful works the museum MONA, – (Museum of Old and New Art) in Tasmania, Australia – is known for.  Including a nude solstice swim in a freezing ocean.

I was listening to Book and Arts Daily an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) program that attended Dark MOFA. The host Michael Cathcart was interviewing composer, Nick Tsiavos.

You can listen to the full interview here:   [button link=”http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/nick-tsiavos/5542712″ size=”small” style=”tick” color=”silver” text=”dark” window=”yes”]Nick Tsiavos Talking About Liminal[/button]

What’s This Got To Do With Liminal?

The interview began:

“It’s midnight on the winter solstice. In the deepest of the dark depths of night St David’s Cathedral becomes a safe haven for a crowd seeking shelter from the cold.

Enter the solstice moment: a liminal state where time seems to grind to a halt.

Composer Nick Tsiavos and his Quintet perform Liminal: a combination of medieval and Byzantine chant set against modern experimentation.”

You can hear an excerpt of the music composition “Liminal” HERE.

 Listening to Nick explain the term, my mind wandered off. I remembered people describing a time of uncertainty after a traumatic brain injury; after any trauma.

What is Liminal?

Japanese character - space. - Liminal and Traumatic brain injury
Wikipedia image Japanese character – Ma – space

Liminal – is ‘the space of uncertainty between’.

It brought to mind that time between life before (brain injury) and life after. The Old life and the New life.

Upon this discovery I of course decided I was the first to ever make the link between liminal and traumatic brain injury.

I set off on an internet search, just in case I was not original.  Alas I was not!  I found:

Aster Breo in her blog “Liminal Lotus”, describes her own brain injury. Aster not only uses the term in her blog title, she expands on the meaning of “liminal” in a beautiful way:

[box size=”small” style=”rounded” border=”full”]“Liminal” is a fascinating word. It was coined in 1908, by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, in his book Rites of Passage, about small-scale rituals that mark the passage from one cultural group or status to another, such as from child to adult.

It has come to refer to the in-between, the neither-here-nor-there, the places where the worlds touch.

Think: thresholds, beaches, dawn, dusk, adolescence, ambiguity.” [/box]

Liminal Everywhere!

Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury Blue book cover forShooting WaterLike many things in life, once you become aware of something you see it more, and everywhere.

I was reading “Shooting Water” by Devyani Saltzman about the making of the film ‘Water’ directed by her mother Deepa Mehta.

In the book, as Devyani reflects on her own upbringing, she describes the following:

“The Bemba of Africa have a ritual for when a girl comes of age. It’s called Chisungu, and they talk of it as ‘growing the girls’. I mulled over the Bemba, and a famous anthropologist’s argument that all rites of passage involve three stages:   separation from one’s old state, a liminal period where one is without definition, and a reincorporation into society in a new form.”

“A liminal period where one is without definition” this seems so fitting. Somehow it seems more gentle and real than talking about the need for “acceptance” after traumatic brain injury or trauma.  More like a rite of passage that one moves through.

Linking the Space that is Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury

I found author Ian Adams giving a lovely description of liminal spaces. Again I believe it resonates with brain injury; an uncomfortable space with new possibilities:

“… liminal spaces.  These are places that are on the threshold between old and new.  They may be uncomfortable, but out of them are born new possibilities.

Ian recorded an interview: Liminal Spaces. If you are interested in a bit more from Ian Adams “Wild and Precious” is a series of short films capturing inspiring stories from ordinary lives.

Connecting Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury?

Liminal and Traumatic Brain Injury. Photo of dark sky and close up of full moon
Image by Chris Scott

For me (and I hope you too) these writings connected with

1) what people have described to me about the time after traumatic brain injury and

2) the definition of  Liminal – The space of uncertainty between.

Rather than seeing this space after trauma as a problem, as needing acceptance, what if we take the view that this is a necessary space between old and new life?

It seems to me, an evocative word to help describe the changing lives of people with brain injury:

A lyrical word, as an alternative to using medical or psychological terms.

A word that describes:

  • A space for reflecting on creating a new life  (while still remembering the old life).
  • The space between past life and future life for a person living with brain injury and their family.
Photo of stairs covered by red structure over stairs. Liminal and traumatic brain injury
Image by Joka2000
How Can It Help?

[unordered_list style=”green-dot”]

  • It might help us recognise that this is a natural (and necessary) phase after trauma or a major life change.

     

  • It reminds us that ‘Time’ needs a ‘liminal’ space and so do we humans.

     

  • We could see it as a rite of passage – a liminal phase. We would then look for, and support the development of rituals and markers that acknowledge change and progress.

     

  • We would acknowledge that a liminal period is not empty, it is a space where change is happening.

[/unordered_list]

 

AND FINALLY

A liminal phase after trauma or traumatic brain injury might help us recognise that this time is not always negative:

Grief and loss can sit alongside hope and change.

New life can begin in this space.

I will leave the final words to ‘Composer in the garden’ who explains liminal spaces and creativity (think liminal and traumatic brain injury as you read):

“Of course, that is only the first step; it is actually a series of decisions, reflections, and more decisions, an ongoing process of stepping into a threshold, a liminal space, then continuing on through the process, over and over again.”

 

I would really like to hear your thoughts on this. Is it a wild idea or does it make sense?

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. Aster Breo

    How wonderful to know I’m not alone in my feelings about traumatic brain injury!

    It’s been about 7 years since my tbi (I have a hard time remembering exactly when it happened), and I continue to struggle with my cognitive abilities. While my reading did improve to the point where I regained some ability to read, mostly just fiction, it seems to have plateaued now. My memory is still spotty and unreliable. And sometimes it feels like my brain just sort of stops for a little while.

    Clearly, I’ll never go back to the kind of work I did prior to my tbi (I was a lawyer and child advocate, which I miss every single day). But I haven’t figured out what I *can* do or how much I can realistically work.

    So, I guess I’m still in my liminal place.

    I’m trying to move into a new phase — trying some different kinds of work, trying to focus on my family and on spiritual aspects of life, etc. — but I feel stuck. Part of that is due to my migraine symptoms, which began in childhood, long before my tbi, but have worsened since. Combined, the cognitive issues and migraine symptoms are often debilitating. I often find myself feeling hopeless.

    It does help, though, to know there are other people out there who have similar experiences and emotional challenges. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.

    Maybe we can hang out here together, in the in-between. 😉

    1. Melanie Atkins

      Aster I am so thrilled to hear from you. And to have discovered that you too had thought about the liminal space. I am hoping others might share their experiences of that inbetween space. Maybe even sharing how to ‘unstuck’ – bad grammar I know.

  2. Ruth Burrill

    Hi Melanie,

    You’re aticle does make sense indeed. Liminal spaces are opportunities for profound change.

    Its the difference between having the will to shead your old ways of thought.

    Aware every case is different.

    But its the mastering of the mind and new way of exsistence and over time you’ll become so familiar with, in a happy way not understanding any different. 🙂

    If you choose too.

    Not denying it is nightmare of a rocky path to manoeuvre when you’re in your rehabliation and new way of living.

    – The road feels never ending. Don’t give up!

    – It’s important to acknowledge and walk with the painful loss of the life you knew, oh so well.

    Time does heal everything.
    And it certainly wont happen over night.

    But if you can jot down or have somebody write for you, what you imagine your life to be like over many years.

    Everything is possible.

    A wonder topic to ponder upon Melanie, thanks!

    1. Melanie Atkins

      Ruth thank you for your words of experience. It is good to hear the topic has generated thoughts and strategies.

  3. Ric Johnson

    Thanks, this is a great blog. “Liminal state of mind”, I’m going to start using that phrase. And I going to post this blog on my Support Group’s facebook page. We survivor’s are all understand what Liminal means. Thanks again.

    1. Melanie Atkins

      Ric I am so pleased that this topic feels relevant. It began as a wild idea and just seemed to make sense. Please feel free to share. Regards Melanie

  4. Kent Slaughter

    Wow, what an incredible article! With so many references, how long did it take to put together?!

    I consider myself lucky to have suffered my 2007 brain injury in a transitional phase anyhow, university. I’m pleased to be able to say that I completed my engineering degree, amazing as it may be, but only with the help of the universities (UQ and then Melbourne) in significantly extra exam time. I graduated at the end of 2013 and finally have a few promising job prospects.

    It’s a good thing, I think, that it can feel this way. Because it’s the knowledge that more is available than you currently have, if only you can find it. Since hearing that my GCS score had been as low as 3 and my PTA was 90 days long I have known that I could push on and accomplish more and more. I’ve been a Christian most of my life (except my teens, until the accident when I was 20) and I put my trust in God’s promises of healing and restoration. He hasn’t let me down, but it hasn’t been easy at all. I have a few stories (like scoring 100% on my last major assignment) that reassure me that I am not in control of my fortune and the Guy who is loves me. I worried I might fail that assignment so I worked extra hard, because I had only scored 30% on the first assignment…

    Good times are coming! My mum says to enjoy the small things, like coffee and dogs. I pray that all the readers of this blog find comfort in what I said before- the guy who is in control of our destinies loves us!

    1. Melanie Atkins

      Kent thank you so much for your support of this article. I could not put a time on how long, I seem to get lost in the research – in a good way. Each of these articles always seems to take longer than I plan but I learn a lot and enjoy doing it. This one has been especially exciting as there has been such interest and appreciation. Thankyou so much for sharing some of your story for others. Regards Melanie

  5. Madelaine

    I like the concept of liminal space very much – I often say in talks that one must learn to live in ambiguity – but I like liminal better.

    Nice blog.

    1. Melanie Atkins

      I have learned so much writing this blog and the concept of liminal was for me an exciting idea so I am delighted to hear others feel the same. Melanie

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