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Writing About Liminality

Timothy L. Carson Author Interview

The Liminal Loop: Astonishing Stories of Discovery and Hope is a collection of true stories by multiple authors that take readers on an inspirational journey. Why was this an important book for you to write?

The Liminal Loop is the second anthology of liminality I have edited. I believe that important subjects – like liminality – can be best understood by way of many voices of multiple authors, all writing from their own perspectives, disciplines and experience. The collection of the many creates much greater depth and breadth.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

In addition to the foundation stones of why liminality acts and does what it does (like its qualities and how it works) are the applications – to the environment, mass chaos events, issues of race, spirituality, and social transformations. A new addition to this collection is the chapter on the arts and how artists contribute to the conversation through their distinctive mediums.

How did you decide what stories to include in this collection?

I knew many of the authors and their work to begin with and that helped. But I also discovered new people writing about liminality in distinctive ways and I invited them to participate. The responses were incredible and added to the richness.

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?

I hope that readers will come away from this book with a new understanding of the powerful shifts and transitions of life and how we, as a community can traverse these powerful thresholds and transform as individuals and communities.

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Recent and current crises in health, ecology, society and spirituality have lent the whole arena of liminality a new urgency and relevancy. Those who traverse the great transitions are rediscovering new ways of interpreting life through the liminal lens, a way to make sense of the great voluntary and unchosen transitions that characterize modern life. This anthology provides a unique overview of liminality as it gathers a diverse coterie of authors, disciplines, and contexts to explore its many facets. Distinct in its interdisciplinary approach, The Liminal Loop serves as an important source book for general readers, teachers, students, artists, counselors, spiritual guides, and social transformers. From liminal poetry and musical traditions to the strange vertical world of the rock climber, The Liminal Loop explores the swirling chaos on the other side of critical thresholds and suggests a pathway through the daunting middle passages of the in-between. With what can only be described as courage, the many authors of this collection dare to look uncertainty in the eye, knowing that this is a necessary journey, and that it is better to travel with a common band of pilgrims than to go it alone.