Turner's Liminality-Eric Fesmire

One of the most interesting ideas from Turner is the idea of liminality. Liminality is the in between stage of the pilgrimage, the area of change and uncertainity. In the spirit of communitas the stages are probably all the same in importance, but this stage, connecting the beginning and the ending, is really what sets apart the pilgrimage from other journeys. This area is where it seems the identity of the pilgrim gets thrown to the wind and an exploration of self and world begins. At the end of the pilgrimage, the pilgrim is more like his real self than before. So in a sense, his turning from himself and embracing uncertainty makes him closer to who he actually is. It is a weird thing, the pilgrimage, but from Victor Turner's writings it seems to be, more than anything else, a journey of self exploration, of leaving oneself behind and finding yourself again.