"Liminal" is from limen: "threshold" or "doorframe". In psychology, subliminal stimulus is below the threshold of perception ('outside the house'), and won't be noticed by the subject; conscious experience, if we needed a word for it, would be called superliminal.
More generally, liminal means "edgy".
From Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams:
"A beach house isn't just real estate. It's a state of mind. A beach house doesn't even have to be on the beach. Though the best ones are. We all like to congregate at boundary conditions. . . . Where land meets water. Where earth meets air. Where body meets mind. Where space meets time. We like to be on one side, and look at the other."
I think and feel in catagories, stereotypes and cells, so unclassifiable things that manage to sneak past perception and hit my naked brain make a big impression. These deeply-impressed states are rare enough that they feel new each time, giving me a peek into the world of children and the enlightened.
Liminal moments and things, even when they are sad, are beautiful:
- just beginning to fall in love
- the moment in the air over the water
- eureka -- mental dominos coming down
- the day when you're not sure whether it's summer or fall
- watching the sun come up
- jokes, lies, and metaphors
- ghosts, dreams, and hallucinations
- parody, satire, and sarcasm
- not being sure whether something is beautiful for what it says or for what it is
- crossroads (and everything else in the domain of Eshu, Heyoka, Loki, Raven, and Coyote)
- political borders
- an unfamiliar version of a familiar song
- walking back into your empty house after seeing guests off
- graduations, initiations, funerals, and weddings
- good theatre, including magic and poetry
- talking to someone who clearly recognizes you but whom you can't remember meeting before
- deja vu
- just beginning to fall out of love