Permanent (trickster) liminality: The reasons of the heart and of the mind

Abstract

The term liminality is often used to celebrate escape from rigid structures or to promote creativity. However, the collapse of the stable frameworks of social life also generates anguishing conditions of uncertainty. This article introduces the term “permanent liminality” for situations in which the temporary suspension of normality becomes permanent. Such situations of entrapment within an interstitial dimension produce an emotional overheat, generating a “liminal hotspot.” This paper addresses the possibility of ending such entrapment. Reasoning cannot guide out of permanent liminality, as—in the absence of stability necessary to apprehend ratio, or harmonious proportionality—it is also liable to short-circuit, being closely associated under liminal conditions with imitativity. A solution is offered, through Pascal rather than Kant, by the heart. Such an idea also receives support from the Palaeolithic Age, maternal heartbeat in the womb, and long-distance walking pilgrimage.