“As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.”
~ ‘For the Interim Time’ by John O’Donohue
There is an amazing freedom and possibility in the unknown — just as a marshy eco-tone is teeming with emerging Life yet is neither firm land nor water-body. It’s an in-between zone.
We don’t always see the places or times of in-between, with their great tension, transition, or life-altering shifts as an invitation to creative adventure or liberation, though, do we?
It can be a challenge when we’re caught up in the stress of change or that place of creative tension — standing at the precipice of the Unknown, or being cooked in the crucible of it — to believe that there even are possibilities for something new and wonderful wanting to be born and experienced, because we can’t yet see.
At such times, we’re enveloped by the cloud of unknowing, as one long-ago monk called it.
No matter how many times I’ve been immersed in the creative process, or found myself in the unknown — that tense, creative transition-space between something ending and something new beginning, I’ve felt the tension and an almost unbearable restlessness in it.
And that fear, as I stood in the smoking rubble of what was, that nothing good will ever happen again … yes, I’m familiar with that one.
In truth, Life is creative, a great experiment, so thinking otherwise may well be a set-up for perpetual frustration, yes?
There have been times, in that ‘Unknown’ place, when I’ve retreated to the known and seemingly comfortable, or tried to (ha ha, I know!).
There have also been more than a few of those truly transformative, highly initiatory times, too, when there was no retreating to the ‘known and comfortable’ because it no longer existed, so the creative adventure of the Unknown was the territory in which I found myself, like it or not.
Sometimes, I’ve found the courage to wait there in that tension, be enveloped by the Unknown, and let some new thing find expression through me.
When I’ve found my way to the latter, it’s because, yes, I reach into my ever deepening ‘tool kit’ or magic backpack that is the result of many years of training and practice.
And also because I’ve immersed myself in inspiration that stokes the spirit-fires of creative adventure and an ability to see uncertainty and in-between times differently than we might see them when we’re looking through the fear-lens.
Are you in one of these in-between Life-phases, traveling a segment of The Unknown … no longer caterpillar but not yet butterfly (or Phoenix)?
If you’d feel more centered by having an experienced lantern-holder and guide (one who’s also been there), contact me and we’ll explore the options.
Big Love in the In-Between,
p.s. for inspiration on re-rooting and sinking roots deep into new ground (or the new life) read this May Sarton-inspired post: Home and Exile: Uprooting and Growing New Roots.
May 12, 2013 at 3:39 pm
I found myself many times into the unknown and felt/feel the tension of not knowing where I am or where I am going. With all the ‘fire element’ that I took with me when I decided to come here one more time. I immerse so very often into that unknown space wanting to know what is there to deal with. And you are right , there is tension but BTGOG I somehow deal with and when I cannot I ask for help.
Beautiful inspirational words Jamie. You have the gift!
L&L
marinela
May 26, 2015 at 3:57 pm
Reblogged this on Sophia's Children and commented:
Seems a fine time to fan the (metaphorical) flames of the Spirit of creative adventure, which help us to more creatively navigate in-between times and transformation zones.
Plus any time I can revisit and share a bit of John O’Donohue’s inspiring wisdom I do.
Big Love,
Jamie
May 29, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Love this post, Jamie! I so recognise my own life there….it always helps to know in such situations that they are archetypal – many feet have walked that way before us, leaving a faint path for us to follow, if we look hard enough…but we all add our own individual footprints to the well-trodden path…
May 31, 2015 at 3:48 pm
Thank you, Anne, I’m glad you enjoyed this one and recognize your own life in the rich metaphor. It’s so true, isn’t it? To know there’s a mythic and archetypal pathway that so many have walked can mean so much. And we do leave footprints (and sometimes little candles and notes that read ‘this way is easier than that way’!) as well.
It makes me think of the very slightly illuminated pathways shown in the movie Bagger Vance … which he is able to see once he ‘has the eyes to see’. Beautiful. 🙂
xoxo Jamie
July 29, 2015 at 7:02 pm
I feel that this year has been an ‘in-between’ time for me – I’m trying to be accepting of that, to know that eventually the pattern will become clear and I’ll know what the transition has been 🙂
August 3, 2015 at 2:04 pm
Mmmm, those in-between times can be so challenging, at least to our conditioning to always ‘have to know’ or always having to be blazing forward, ‘making it happen’. It’s a whole new fluency to navigate the in-between and liminal, and maybe for some ‘walkers between the worlds’ it’s a sort of emerging normal? For sure, there are times along the journey when we’re in-between and listening and watching for pattern clues! Maybe that’s what Rilke was talking about when he spoke of ‘living into the question’? Your sense? Love, Jamie
August 3, 2015 at 4:00 pm
So true. It’s difficult to live the questions and put aside that impatience to know the answers – perhaps this is my lesson this year, to find a way to navigate those in between times – I’ll have to ponder this one Jamie 🙂
August 5, 2015 at 3:55 pm
🙂 Patience was never one of my easier traits either, Andrea! Though weirdly (and I do mean weirdly), it sort of snuck up on me. That said, I still feel moments of the old impatience stirring sometimes. It’s a work in progress. 😉 Be well. xoxo Love, Jamie