Right, Left, and Center: Liminal Space
Liminal Spaces are transitional or transformational spaces. They are waiting areas between one point in space and the next. (Dictionary)
We as a nation are hanging in this liminal space. The presidential election has been held. In the minds of many Americans, it is completed. In the minds of some, it is not.
We hang either way betwixt and between administrations-each representing vastly different agendas. We wait as a people divided by conflict, animosity, and amnesia for the great ideals upon which or country was built.
In this liminal space, might we all take a breath, settle down, and reflect on who we are as Americans.
We are a melting pot of divergent thinkers. Our forefathers risked life and limb on a novel social experiment. Success was not guaranteed. Yet, the noble notions of freedom of speech, thought, and religion ignited the imagination of a nascent nation. Quickly, these agreed upon ideals spawned differing ideas about implementation. How large or small should government be? How far-reaching or limited its reach? In the tension of opposing ideologies, the Constitution was produced. The Bill of Rights was signed.
In a sense, America is still an experiment. Can a nation grown large continue to honor its commitment to lawful democracy? To a collaborative effort between differing people who agree to disagree with civility and decorum?
Dr. Carl Jung, famed Swiss psychoanalyst, theorized a “transcendent third” principle. When seemingly polarized tensions pull against each other, there is the possibility of an emergent, transcendent third. Another option, born perhaps of the differing poles, but constituting a whole new idea altogether.
A new possibility.
Decent people in all three political parties want to address societal ills and govern in ways that promote the well-being of the country. They virulently disagree on methodology. Imagine a country that transforms the tension of our differences into a nation that reflects the highest and best of dueling ideologies.
I am gifted with the perplexing privilege of deep friendship with people all along the political spectrum, from right to left and including centrist in the middle. Perhaps this “rainbow coalition” in my life motivates my earnest desire that people co-operate with each other in a way that capitalizes on the strength of each perspective and mitigates against the excesses inherent in any unchallenged belief system. My private smorgasbord shows me that it is possible, though challenging.
Such collaborative synergy requires respect for differences. It demands listening and looking through the lens of understanding.
Is this naïve? Absolutely! By this definition, my stance is naïve: “having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; ingenuous.”
My stance speaks into the ideal of our higher natures.
Of course, inherent in the human species heinous characteristics also exist and collide with our lofty ideals: injustice, hate, discrimination, greed, deceit, violence, destruction or life, limb, and property.
We must, therefore, avoid the naivete that is: “showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment.”
Perhaps the old adage, “Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove” is our truest path.
Folk singer, John McCutcheon, offers us a listening lens, acknowledging the dark side while celebrating the light. In a song written following a previous election, in his magical way, McCutcheon calls us into a higher way of being America.
