Landscapes of the Sacred #2: The Desert as a Liminal Place

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane (2002) mentions the significance of deserts. Furthermore, Lane (2002) states that “the desert’s compelling indifference its spare simplicity and constant proximity of death, even its expressions of senseless joy amid the brief intensity of life- all these form the turbid complexity of any desert hermeneutic” (Landscapes of the Sacred, pp125). In that sentence Lane goes into great detail of the mysteriousness of a desert. This certain mysterious reminds me of a liminal space; one in which no one is truly in control but rather both in a foreign territory of unbalanced control. Lane describes the desert to be radically different on both extremes when he states that it is “expression of senseless joy amid the brief intensity of life.” I think that only in a liminal place can both extremes can exist because the structure of a liminal world is far less put together and defined than that of the profane world.

I think back to the ending scene of the film we watched in class, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and recall when Joel and Clementine are in the hallway having a conversation that will essentially be the turning point in their relationship. In this liminal space, similar to the desert, their resolution can end in both a good or bad extremes because the liminal allows them be free to either dimension. Liminal place can be a very powerful place to be and it really depends on who’s involved and the setting that takes place. In the film we see the director use a simple hallway of an apartment complex and in Lane’s book we see him use a desert. Nonetheless, the liminal can be found in either place because of the neutrality that exists that allows the user to freely travel in unexplored and uncommon worlds.