A threshold is betwixt and between a simple hallway from a classroom as is in a less physical sense in the form of the in-between phase of one’s life. By that I mean in life there are times where we leave behind the knowledge that we’ve once known and enter into a phase where we do not know the constructs of the future. We are in a stage of liminality. Turner describes three stages in the rites of passage that are applied to more than just pilgrims in the wilderness; in fact they can be used to describe rites of passage in regular society as well. The first stage being separation, where you have made the decision to be stripped of all social constructs. This would equate to leaving high school and entering college without anyone having any previous notions of whom you actually are. The second stage is liminality, essentially a “social antistructure,” according to Turner. As that freshman, you are in between leaving behind your past to discover what connects us in the knowledge we gain after the experience that brings us back into society in the third stage which is reaggregation. Last year, these rites of passage were very evident. Having to decide what college to go to and then attending freshman orientation where no one else has any idea of who I am. Once I recognized that everyone else is also in the same awkward stage where we started to learn about what kind of person we could become here. With this almost new identity, it was hard to go back to past friends and see how they have also developed within their own communitas group. I found it hard reaggregating during the summer with old friends because I felt almost split in identity. I had a new knowledge of my qualities and a strong grasp of my values, where I didn’t before, and I found myself conflicted with myself trying to be two different people. After a while I learned to pick the best qualities and weave them together, using the past and future to construct an Arrenvy that was finally aware of more about herself.
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