Apr 10, 2009

Threshold Moments


We are constantly managing the flow of change in our lives. Nothing stays the same, really, no matter how hard we try. If we have a lot of changes happen in a short span of time, it is a signal that life is really on the move and that we are being challenged to rise to the occasion. This is what John O’Donohue calls a threshold time in a life.

“A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.” – John O’Donohue, “To Bless the Space Between Us”

To cross, when it is really time to cross and as we are ready, is a powerful choice. And, like O’Donohue says, ritual is a vital way by which to mark for yourself and amongst your people, such a time.

In Ceremony, you go from being a re-actor, someone always trying to catch up to the changes, to being a creator, someone who chooses to honour and acknowledge the flow as it is and as you accept it to be. In fact, successfully done, the Ceremony itself becomes the moment of transition. Ceremony is a way to step out of the everyday movement of activity, and into time and space that is designed to meet life face-to-face, choosing to be in the flow and deciding what that means for you.
 
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