Time and space at the Shalom Center

            The axis of time and space creates the limits or the framework in the Learning for Transformation model.  Time refers to “chronos” or the temporal measurement in the programming of schedules and the appropriate distribution of activities, rest, meals, hygiene, free time or other designated moments.  But it also refers to “timing” or the recognition of individual or group rhythms which values the diversity of human processes.  As a camp song says, “Everything in life has its right place; everything has a time to become reality.”  We seek to maximize time not through activism, but through each one of the aspects of the educational strategy.  “Space” refers not only to the physical area where activities are carried out, but also to the emotional, spiritual, intellectual or relational “spaces” that are the framework of the human experience.  For example, of vital importance to full and effective learning is the “safe space” where a person trusts enough to unfold his or her personality or talents without fear of embarrassment, rejection, or teasing.  “Safe space” insures an educational opportunity where the participants can risk trying new learnings or behaviors with the support of the other participants as well as the facilitators.

            The consideration of time and space in the processes of change includes such practical, biological or mechanical issues as schedules and location but goes beyond these to probe into communicational, relational, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. “Both time and space are based on physical aspects of the world, but, through culture, they have become much more than that.  They are used to mark individual and group status and territories.  Without realizing it, we use time and space to indicate what we feel about another person” (Okun, Fried, and Okun 228).   “Time” becomes not only the minutes and hours ticked off by a clock but also “timing,” that elusive “right moment” that we intuit, and “space” becomes more than just a room or a clearing in the forest, but the stage on which learning unfolds.  Schirch in her book Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding speaks of liminal spaces as “thresholds or places in limbo that are symbolically separated from other social settings” (69).   Liminal space, which might also be called sacred space or holy ground, is the nexus of that “right place at the right moment.”   It sometimes happens that all of the optimum conditions are present and yet an activity, a ritual, or a story will not open the door to the transformational.  Other times, when it seems that a situation is the least appropriate, a group suddenly crosses the threshold into that place where lasting and significant learning takes place.  There is still much to be explored and discovered in the understanding of the role time and space have in learning that is transformational.