Thresholds, Episode 441
Crossing thresholds in life - birth, death, loss, love, discovery, confusion - is inevitable. How can we do this in a way that recognises the mystery of each of life's great transitions, and which honours how each changes us? And how can we be ones who are wise, compassionate and courageous as we witness and accompany others through those inevitable transitions, without turning away?
We recorded this conversation in front of a live audience of Thirdspace alumni, at our March 2026 Retreat in Bore Place, Kent, UK. It's our first live recording and the audio is a little scratchy... we've learned a lot to help us get great sound next time.
This week's Turning Towards Life hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
Our source for this week:
Thresholds [Part 1]
A threshold is not a simple boundary;
it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms and atmospheres.
Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience
or a stage of life that it intensifies towards the end into a real frontier
that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up.
At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive:
confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope.
This is one reason why such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual.
It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds:
to take your time, to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there,
to listen inwards with complete attention
until you hear the inner voice calling you forward.
The time has come to cross.
To acknowledge and cross a new threshold is always a challenge.
It demands courage and also a sense of trust in whatever is emerging.
This becomes essential when a threshold opens suddenly in front of you,
one for which you had no preparation.
This could be illness, suffering or loss.
Because we are so engaged with the world,
we usually forget how fragile life can be and how vulnerable we always are.
It takes only a couple of seconds for a life to change irreversibly.
Suddenly you stand on completely strange ground
and a new course of life has to be embraced.
Especially at such times we desperately need blessing and protection.
John O'Donohue
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash