Catharsis:

Recently I've been pondering a lot about Catharsis. Catharsis is referred to as an emotional healing, purgatorial cleansing, release and closure about the past or past events by finally expressing a repressed emotion.

There are some events that we carry with us all our lives. Some good, some bad. These events are events in which we have not been able to receive any closure. Those specific events in which you have no closure may cause you to unconsciously replicate the same situation so that you find closure for the past through the present. For instance if you got out of an abusive relationship without any closure chances are that you will subconsciously seek out another abusive relationship and try to change the ending of this one to somehow get closure on the past.

Incomplete closure is always dangerous because you can get trapped in a vicious cycle of constantly replicating your past in an attempt to finally put an end to the stream of memories and the pain that accompanies it. As humans we always want a happy ending and it is perfectly natural to desire such a conclusion.

But to put an end to this vicious cycle you need something powerful. You need Catharsis. And how do you obtain it?

Let’s take a look at a story. Once upon time there were two best friends Jesus and Peter. For three years, they journeyed together, ate together, slept together, discussed random things together and were BFF’s in every way imaginable. Then disaster struck. Jesus was arrested. Peter’s friendship was tested by fire. He could either admit knowing this man and suffer a horrendous death with him or deny knowledge of him altogether. And Peter’s human side took over him. In his panic he renounced Jesus and all knowledge of him.

Imagine what Jesus felt at that moment. It was the lowest most desperate moment of his life and his best friend had just denied him. Not once, not twice but thrice. If it were me I would be so horribly crushed that I would have lost all faith in this traitorous friend. I would have judged him by what I saw and what I heard. And I saw him sitting among my enemies, I heard him deny me thrice. There would be no forgiveness for this betrayer.

But the reality of the situation was this. As soon as Peter denied Jesus, the enormity of what he had just done engulfed him. The horror of betraying his best friend crashed upon him and he went outside and wept bitterly. Jesus didn't get to see his friend’s remorse; He only saw the ugly side. But if it was me in His place and I had seen Peter’s regret I’m sure how I felt towards Peter would have changed. My heart would have softened, and I would have been able to forgive Peter much more easily.

You see the reality of the situation had not changed. The result and the outcome had not changed. I was still betrayed by my best friend. But how I felt towards that situation would change. I could rewrite the past in a better light, in a more complete way than my one sided viewpoint.

Over the past few days I've been able to see a lot of what happened behind the scenes. The events that happened way in the past which I saw only through my eyes, I was suddenly shown how the other person felt, what they went through. The reality of my past had not changed. But when my friends finally opened up, how I felt about the past changed. And as I pondered a beautiful feeling engulfed me.

A feeling of burdens being lifted, emotional release, purgatorial cleansing and closure. I had experienced Catharsis.

I encourage you to seek Catharsis. I encourage you to dig deeper into your past, to find out what happened behind the scenes, to look through the other person’s eyes. I encourage you to seek the truth and strive to arrive at the depth of the matter. I encourage you to forgo bias and prejudice and approach your past with a clear mind. I encourage you to stop repressing and finally start expressing.

I encourage you today to finally be free.

The power lies within you.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." - John 8:32