Bret Marfut Turner reading

I was interested to read about the idea of liminality in Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, by Turner. I have always enjoyed the bonding that comes from experiences that are extremely difficult. The situation that comes immediately to mind is the first week of soccer practice for every season of my high school soccer career. For the first week, we always had two-a-days, at six in the morning and four in the afternoon. These practices were extremely grueling. During the practices, we were completely at the coaches’ mercy, and our choice was to work hard or get cut from the team. While the practices were difficult and dreaded throughout the summer, they were always awesome bonding experiences, and some of my favorite times throughout the year. The concept of liminality gives a name to this somewhat ambiguous situation. According to Turner, the liminal state is a threshold state, characterized by a stripping of status and authority, and a removal from social structer. I was interested to find this connection my experiences with soccer and a theory about wilderness. I think it indicates the significance of the wilderness as a place that is unfamiliar, that pushes people outside of their comfort zone, just in a different way than soccer does.