Inbetweenness: A Meditative Approach to Everyday Life

In 1970, Sunnie D. Kidd coined the term Inbetweenness to conceptualize the mystery of interconnectedness of all beings. Inbetweenness is the web that connects the cosmos and everything in it. It is, on a smaller scale, the nervous system, which connects our universe and holds it together. Inbetweenness is a shared resonating spiritual field of movement and vibration, which is the root of all spiritual experiences and scientific investigation. It is the common ground of all religions, which has been called the primordial om, akasha, prana, the quantum field, the music of the spheres and the thumbprint of God.

       Inbetweenness can be experienced, on the personal scale, as a shared spiritual dimension, which connects us to everyone and everything else. This is the same field of energy that saints, mystics, Buddhas, yogis, priests, shamans and seers have experienced by looking within themselves.

       Inbetweenness is unseen and unheard, yet is deeply experienced in interpersonal relationships, where authenticity characterizes the way that two or more persons are together. In the heart of Inbetweenness, two or more persons’ spiritual dimensions intermingle, and a new dimension emerges in each that did not exist prior to coming together in this way. This shared spiritual dimension is a central energizing quality and provides a sense of protection, support and caring.

       The new dimension that emerges involves an infinite spiritual dimension, where participating people are enabled to go where neither alone could go. Each person, in the relationship, takes the other person forward in life. Through both good and bad times and together, they enjoy an interpersonal transcendence, which enlivens, enriches and engenders compassion, care and solicitude. The spiritual dimensions, in each person, resonate, harmonize, reverberate together, and in so doing, set up a resonantial field of dynamic unity within where each person finds empathy, understanding and deep care.

       The interpersonal transcendence frees each person to, more fully, be oneself. It encourages each person to learn more and while comprehension grows, understanding and empathy deepens. The liberating quality, found in Inbetweenness, opens new possibilities for each person and is given back mutually so that each brings the other forward. When taken all together, the qualities found in this way of being, as oneself with the other and as a part of the other in an essential and meaningful way, continue to develop, deepen and grow until one person in the relationship is gone. If one person is gone, a part of oneself is experienced as being gone. This is the dimensional arc of Inbetweenness.

Sunnie D Kidd has worked in the academic sector as an administrator since the 70s until her passing in 2002. She has presented at multiple national and international conferences in many academic institutions including, but not limited to, The University of Paris (The Sorbonne), The University of Taiwan, The University of Miami and The University of Hawaii. James W. Kidd received his Ph.D. from Duquesne University in Philosophy and Psychology. He has taught in many academic institutions including, but not limited to, Duquesne University, The California Institute of Integral Studies and The University of San Francisco. He has lectured and presented many academic papers around the world. He taught more than thirty different courses including, but not limited to, Interpretation and Understanding of Human Existence (Hermeneutics), Great Philosophical Questions, Philosophies of the Far East, Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Social Ethics, The Psychological Foundations of Education and Learning and Teaching. He has taught undergraduate, graduate and doctorate levels. Both authors have multiple books such as, Experiential Method: Qualitative Research in the Humanities Using Metaphysics and Phenomenology, and Person to Person Inspiration. Sunnie and James Kidd have, also, published several articles in the fields of philosophy, psychology and spirituality.