Tray Norman: Communitas & Liminality

Communitas grows out of liminality on a pilgrimage. Liminality is a state of ambiguity, openness, and uncertainty. The transition opens new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. The structure that grows out of a liminal environment is communitas, which is based on equality and common experience. Communitas is different than connumity because it is a restricted grouping that only applies where there is a sense of close connection. A community is just a broad classification that includes almsot any gathering of people for a given purpose. Communitas is spontaneous, immediate, concrete, not abstract. It does not merge identities of people in society. It strains towards openness and offers pure possibility. Everyone experiences communitas but it is not recognized by social scientists. It is central to religion, literature, drama, art, law, and ethics.