“In Limbo”
Introduction
You can’t imagine...
what it’s like to walk silently for three hours in the forest,
what happens when you spin around and around for hours,
what it is to rub two sticks together until they spark a fire
what might happen on a twelve-hour overnight journey
...unless you go out and do it.
Just as some people embark on a pilgrimage, some hike the Pacific Crest Trail, some navigate the mountains in Tibet and some follow the chair of the Mazu goddess on a 10-day walk to and from Central Taiwan’s Baishatun temple; some others choose instead to venture inside, for a 10-day silent meditation or to live in seclusion for days, weeks, even years. What they are searching for is not an external answer, but an internal one - the answer to a certain life question, the power to overcome a problem they are facing, rather than expecting to find the solution through further indulgence in the very problem that troubles them.
Perhaps this evening is an opportunity. An opportunity for the people of this day and age to see if they can be present in the moment and encounter something real and true to the self. You do not know exactly what you’ll experience, but it will be your own personal experience and therein - as opposed to some external destination - lies a truly profound, genuine journey.
Action Concept
The “In Limbo” action is based on the concept of ‘liminality’ and refers to the state of being at the borderline, a zone of in-betweenness, where conditions are sufficient but not yet complete; the chaos before the clarity.
“In Limbo” can also be seen as a response to the lack of functional rituals in the contemporary world. Today, with the gradual disappearance - or the complete formalization - of functional social rituals, such as coming-of-age ceremonies, which represent growth and the stages of transformation, we are left in a state of ambiguity regarding our internal and external stages, we lack the chance to clearly and corporeally feel the boundaries between stages as well as the specific action of crossing them. Therefore, ultimately one may become stuck in-between, unable to complete the process of ‘growth’, unable to clearly identify and embody a personal life essence and direction. The conundrum facing our very existence is not how to get old, but how to ‘grow’.
For the “In Limbo” action, we remove all the coloration and formalism of organised religion and return to the purely functional (directive) aspects of ritual action, the underlying goal of ushering in the personal qualitative changes that each individual requires. The success or failure, the coherence and completeness of the ceremony, will depend both on the individual and the group as a whole, a journey of self-metamorphosis, centered on the collective.
During the 12-hours of overnight training, simple, high-intensity, repetitive movements (the physical) will form the foundations of the entire action on which the independent will of each individual (the spiritual) will flourish. By performing these physical actions unpresent in our everyday lives, there is a rupture with our daily habits and our inner inertia can be broken, generating a dialogue - in this moment transformation becomes possible. Exactly which question each individual needs to face also becomes apparent during the personal exploration in the course of the action.
The 12 hours of overnight training for “In Limbo” will consist of four stages: "departure", "awareness", "purification" and "celebration". Each stage is developed from the long-term training methods of the U-Theatre, and after destroying our rigid forms, the results will reconstitute a response to the “lack of contemporary opportunities metamorphosis.”
On this night, Laoquan Mountain will no longer be the original Laoquan Mountain. It will become the threshold, the liminal gate into an unknown world, through which we will step through together…
【引言】
你無法想像靜默的在森林步行三小時會是什麼，
你無法想像旋轉三小時會發生什麼，
你無法想像鑽木取火是什麼，
你無法想像一場跨夜十二小時的旅程會發生什麼，除非去做。
就像有的人會踏上朝聖之路、有的人走屋脊步道、有的人西藏轉山、有的人走白沙屯的媽祖繞進，或者內觀，或一個人閉關幾十天，甚至幾年。他們在找的不是外在的答案，而是一個內在的。在尋找某一個生命的答案、或是想跨越某件事情，而不是期待這件事情本身能夠告訴他什麼。
這個晚上，也許就是一個機會。
給這個時代的人們，一個去試試看我們能不能夠碰到某些東西的機會。究竟會體驗到什麼，完全是未知的。而你所體驗到的也將會是你個人的感受，真正深刻的東西真是這個，真正的旅程也是這個，不會在你外在去了哪裡。
【行動概念】
「閾門」所指涉的，是一種處在邊界的狀態；一種臨界；一種條件具足，但仍未完成轉變的前夕；一種邁向清明前的混沌。
閾門也可被視為對當代（現代）缺乏功能性儀式的回應。成長、階段性的轉變⋯⋯等，在逐漸失去諸如成年禮⋯⋯等社會性、功能性儀式（或轉變成完全的形式化）的今天，使明確意識到內在的、外在的各式階段時，多數當代人仍停留在曖昧不明的狀態，缺乏明確觸碰階段邊界、與具體跨越的實際行動。最終，可能一生都無法完成在方向性與本質上具體、且明確的「長大」。一種從存在狀態的角度而言，人所需要的「長大」，而非僅是變老。
閾門，在除去宗教性色彩的條件下，將回歸到具有明確功能性（指向性）的儀式行動，而其中必然的意義，則全然瞄向個體所需要迎來的質變。或成，或不成，將端看個人與儀式整體的完成度。亦可說是一次以群體為軸心的自我蛻化之旅。
12小時的跨夜訓練中，將透過簡單、高強度的反覆動作、訓練（形體），加之絕對必要的自主意願（精神），建構整個行動的基本脈絡。透過，非日常的身體行動，打破內在的慣性，進而產生對話，以及轉化的契機。而其中的課題為何，亦將在行動中，於參與者自身的探究中塑成。
「閾」計畫將經歷12小時的跨夜訓練，分別由「啟程」、「警覺」、「淨化」「慶祝」四階段組成。每一階段均脫胎自優人長年的訓練方式，在破壞其僵化的形式之後，重構成一場針對「當代蛻變之缺失」的回應。
在這一晚，老泉山將不再是原來的老泉山。祂會成為一個「閾」，而我們將共同踏進這個無人知曉的時空。
#即將啟程
#閾十二小時跨夜行動
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