THRESHOLD
Author: Maria Mirassol
“Doors,”
“In Pueblo Bonito, the doorways align with each
other, creating a feeling of transformation as you pass from room to room, like
a rebirth into successive spiritual worlds. Navajo oral histories of
(Video link: “Windows of
THRESHOLD
“This
is the portal we must enter to find the end of sorrow.”[2]
In my imagination, doors are areas of transition which lead you to
unknown spaces, unknown realities. Once
you step over the threshold onto the other side, you don't know what to expect. One takes a risk every time a threshold is
crossed.
“In psychoanalysis, doors, doorways and vestibules are thresholds or
images of deep transitional passages…Standing in a doorway you are forced into
the imagination, wondering what you will find on the other side. It is a place full of expectant
fantasy."[3]
Simple acts like opening the door of one’s home and stepping outside as
part of the daily routine is a transition into new ground. What may seem to be at first familiar
surroundings with predictable outcomes does in fact change as soon as you step
outdoors. Your neighbour may or may not
greet you, a person on a bus may or may not bump into you, the weather may or
may not turn out to be mild/warm/cold/etc.
During my life, I have opened/closed many doors and have crossed many
thresholds. Venturing onto unknown territories on many occasions, I have
crossed the threshold of my imagination. My notion of individual reality is
affected each and every time I cross a threshold, each and every time I leave
the comfort of the familiar and explore the unknown.
Before the crossing, there are moments of hesitancy, anxiety, and fear;
yet, at others, wonderment, awe, and courage.
Gaston Bachelard said, “How concrete everything becomes in a world of
the spirit, when an object, a mere door, can give images of hesitation,
temptation, desire, security, welcome and respect. If one were to give an account of all the
doors one has closed and opened, of all the doors one would like to re-open,
one would have to tell the story of one’s entire life.”[4]
The three doors:
1) “The door of emptiness. Of no-where. Of no
place for a self, which cannot be entered by a self. And therefore is of no use
to someone who is going somewhere. Is it
a door at all? The door of no-door.
2) The door without sign, without indicator,
without information. Not particularized.
Hence no one can say of it, “This is it! This is the door.”
It is not recognizable as a door.
…
3) The door without wish. The undesired. The unplanned door. The door
never expected. Never wanted. Not desirable as door. Not a joke, not a trap door. Not select. Not
exclusive. Not for a few. Not for many.
Not for. Door without aim. Door without end. Does not respond to a key.”[5]
Interview:
Marvin Barrett: What is the nature of a threshold?
William Segal: It is an interruption in the ordinary response of our
lives….[It is] moments that a change in consciousness appears and enriches us
in a quite unexpected way….One passe[s] a threshold in oneself to a different
level of being.[6]
Nomadic Consciousness:
“[The] idea of passing through, of cutting across different kinds and
levels of identity.”[7]
We Are Hear Near There
We are here near there, the tent has thirty doors.
We are here a place between the pebbles and the shadows.
A place for a voice. A place for freedom, or a place
For any place fallen off a mare, or scattered by a bell or the
muezzin’s call.
We are here, and in a moment we’ll explode this siege, and in a
moment we’ll free a cloud,
And travel within ourselves. We
are here near there thirty
doors for the wind, thirty
“was”,
Teaching you to see us, to know us, to listen to us, to feel our
blood safely,
Teaching you our peace, We may love or may not love the road
to
We are here within ourselves. A
sky for the month of August,
a sea for the month of May and
freedom for a horse.
We seek the sea only to retrieve from it the blue rings round
the smoke.
We are here near there thirty shapes, thirty shadows for a
star.[8]
Mahmud Darwish