Liminal awareness is a quality of [[Consciousness]] that situates itself within social and localized contexts. It spans the continuum between *subliminal* awareness, in which the contents of one’s mind are not available, and *supraliminal* awareness, in which the contents of one’s mind are abstracted from the present and incorporated into a value framework. Liminal awareness is the defining characteristic of [preconquest consciousness](http://ranprieur.com/readings/preconquest.html) and similar to the concept of a [[Beginners Mind]]. This state of mind is not without its drawbacks. It is generally described as "premodern," and one of its features is an inability to conceptualize outside one’s direct experience, as demonstrated by [[Range - David Epstein#Chapter 2 - How the Wicked World Was Made|early Soviet psychology studies]]. %% ### Preconquest Consciousness * **liminal awareness was the principal focus of mentality in the preconquest cultures** contacted, whereas **a supraliminal type that focuses logic on symbolic entities is the dominant form in postconquest societies** * **Liminally focused consciousness is very different from the supraliminal type** that has almost entirely replaced it. Within the preconquest cultures observed, **basic sensibilities (such as of identity, number, space, and truth) shape up in unexpected ways. So does human integration. Preconquest groups are simultaneously individualistic and collective**--traits immiscible and incompatible in modern thought and languages. * **liminal awareness, by definition, occurs on the threshold of consciousness.** * In the real life of these preconquest people, **feeling and awareness are focused on at-the-moment, point-blank sensory experience**--as if the nub of life lay within that complex flux of collective sentient immediacy. * Cf with the discussion of abstraction and concepts in [[Range - David Epstein]]. * Where consciousness is focused within **a flux of ongoing sentient awareness**, experience cannot be clearly subdivided into separable components. With no clear elements to which logic can be applied, experience remains immune to syntax and formal logic within **a kaleidoscopic sanctuary of non-discreteness**. Nonetheless, preconquest life was reckoned sensibly--though seemingly intuitively. * **Note**: Because the logic is not removed from the situation