Yesterday,
I made some comments about “The Neutral Zone” in my sermon. I did say that I had a very good reason to
mention it, aside from the fact that
it exists in the universe of Star Trek!
That very good reason is that it’s a concept
of William Bridges that Peter Steinke mentions in his book, A Door Set Open. He says that “change is an event. Our experience of the change is transition. He cites three movements—endings, the neutral
zone, and beginnings—in the transition experience.” We might think of “endings” as the chapter or
the phase of life that is drawing to a close.
“Beginnings” would be the next step or the new reality that has now
appeared. It’s the middle one, “the
neutral zone”—in which things seem chaotic and unsettled—that can really
unnerve and alarm us.
Steinke
comments, “Leading change brings out both reactive forces and responsive ones.” That first one, reactive forces, is when we
become defensive. Sometimes people speak
of instinct, the “lower brain,” or the “reptile brain.” We sense danger; anxiety kicks in. Anxiety is an automatic reaction to a threat,
whether that threat is real or imagined.
That second
one that leading change brings, being responsive, is when we are reflective. This is learned behavior. We are free to exercise reason and creativity
and imagination. We’re free to explore
possibilities. We’re using the “upper
brain.” And it has a physical
response. Instead of tightness, there
tends to be a sense of calm. We remember
to breathe!
Anxiety can
overwhelm us. In Galatians 5, the
apostle Paul warns his sisters and brothers, “If,
however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed
by one another” (v. 15). He’s addressing
a different matter, but I think his words are appropriate here.
The neutral zone can be a scary
place. We can learn the wrong lessons
there. We can learn how to bully each
other. We can learn how, in ever so
slight a way, to belittle each other.
And that can be expressed in a thousand different ways.
So it’s true, the neutral
zone can be a scary place. But it’s also
necessary, though not in the Star Trek
sense of keeping enemies apart. It’s
necessary because that’s the time and place to re-orient ourselves. We hold on to what is good and true from the
past, but not so tightly that we cannot embrace the future into which the Spirit
is leading us.