{"id":18798,"date":"2020-04-28T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T13:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18798"},"modified":"2020-04-28T09:33:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T13:33:22","slug":"dark-liminality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18798","title":{"rendered":"Dark Liminality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wMmmbJlWhtk\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td><br><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td><br><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p>Liminal Space<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dark\nLiminality<\/strong><br>\nTuesday, \u202fApril 28, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>When\nI am in that darkness, I do not remember anything about anything human. <\/em>\u2014Angela of Foligno\n(1248\u20131309)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>After working as\na physician and bioethicist for decades, Living School alumna and chair of the\nCAC Board LaVera Crawley became a hospital chaplain and spiritual companion for\npatients and their families in the liminality that often occurs between life\nand death. It seems to me that spiritual companionship is an art many of us are\nlearning to practice these days, but we must be willing to be present to those\nin need, not just physically (or virtually), but with our whole selves. LaVera\nshares some of the challenges of this spiritual work and how it can be\ntransformative for both parties. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\nare likely few situations with the power to reliably propel us beyond the\nthreshold of everyday existence and into the realm of the liminal than the way\nof the despair of receiving a diagnosis of a serious, life-threatening illness.\nIt can feel like being hit by a brick or like being hurled into the dark abyss.\nOnce there, the territory can be utterly disorienting and terribly frightening.\n. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few\nknow how to enter the liminal space where their loved one or patient has been\nforced to go, let alone how to <em>be <\/em>there should they be brave\nenough to dare to enter. We are uncomfortable in these kinds of liminal spaces\nbecause it is strange and unfamiliar territory, woven with the difficult\nfeelings we\u2019ve been taught to suppress by medicating them away, by bypassing\nthem through platitudes . . . or denying them all together. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\ntakes willingness, fortitude, knowledge, skill, and a deep trust in Spirit to\ngo into these dark places as both witness and companion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To\nbe very clear, I am not equating darkness with something bad or negative, any\nmore than I would consider the apophatic way [1] as such. There is deep beauty\nin the darkness, in the unknowing, in the indescribable, if only we can open\nourselves to its purpose. Metaphorically, the <em>dark emotions<\/em>&nbsp;of grief, fear,\nand despair can be profound teachers and guides. . . . The primal howl of\nexistential suffering holds within it the lesson that we all must learn at some\ntime in our lives: To heal from our suffering\u2014not merely to ease or palliate\nit, but to transform it into the source and substance of our growth and\nwisdom\u2014requires a journey through it. We must listen attentively for whatever message\nit has for us and, according to [psychotherapist Miriam] Greenspan, find\nauthentic ways to befriend it so that we can surrender to its transmuting\npower. All spiritual traditions teach some variation of this wisdom. While it\nmay not come naturally to us to respond to suffering in this way, through\npractice, it can become a learned skill. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The art of\nspiritual companionship through the realm of the liminal can be learned,\nwhether we are accompanying others or attending to our own souls. The first step\nrequires trusting that, in the course of time, the very healing we seek can\nemerge by our journeying through liminal space, listening attentively to what\nthe liminal seeks to tell us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liminal Space Dark Liminality Tuesday, \u202fApril 28, 2020 When I am in that darkness, I do not remember anything about anything human. \u2014Angela of Foligno (1248\u20131309) After working as a physician and bioethicist for decades, Living School alumna and chair of the CAC Board LaVera Crawley became a hospital chaplain and spiritual companion for patients [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18801,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18798\/revisions\/18801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}