Catharsis is “the purging of emotion” as defined by Aristotle. A cathartic event in Greek Theatre was usually at the end of a tragic play, when the events came to a close and the audience would emphasize with the characters, sometimes audibly crying.
A cathartic experience does not have to just come from theatre though. The same principle of feeling the struggle another is going through and relating it to your own life to heal past and present wounds exists in many forms all around us. A cathartic event could be reading something that relates to your life, or sharing a story with a friend, whatever it is it presents the same purgation.
The interesting thing about catharsis in the classical sense is that audience members would be feeling with the character. Being in the moment and allowing themselves to be fully engrossed within the production. How often do we get that same luxury? How often do we just give ourselves up to a production, or a conversation, or a book without checking our phones or thinking of our agenda? I know I am guilty of impatience beyond belief. In Classical Greek Theatre, productions would begin at sunrise and not end until sunset, often spanning several days. Your attention was fully on the actors and what was going on. You had no other obligations, sometimes enforced by law! I’m not saying we revert to this system in any way, nor that technology is in someway evil, I’m merely suggesting we give ourselves up to the idea of catharsis. Not all the time, but when needed. Here’s an experiment: when you are listening to music, just listen. Really listen to what the words are saying, focus on the instruments, the different chords, put away distractions. You may feel differently about a favorite song or discover something you never knew. You might for the first time, really understand the struggle the artist was going though as he or she wrote it and feel empathy. It could even be cathartic!
When you truly give yourself up to a piece of music, a book, a conversation, a production, anything that connects you to another human you begin to empathize. Empathy is the first step to catharsis.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
