Cathartic Meditation

• What Is Catharsis?
• How Does Cathartic Meditation Work?
• Benefits Of Cathartic Meditation?
• Gurdjieff Method

What Is Catharsis?

The original Greek meaning of the word "Catharsis" (katharsis, κάθαρσις) is purification or cleansing, originally referring to physical cleansing like total immersion bathing.

1) Immersion Bathing ↟↟

You have to remember that up until the middle of the 1900's, most people around the world who lived outside of sizeable cities did not have access to running water and even as a small child (under 9) I remember rarely having a full bath because we had limited tank water storage so most nights it was a wet cloth on the face and hands type of bath.

Then we moved to the city and we had water on tap. (no pun intended)

In Judaism, this total immersion in water was called a "Mikveh" and it was a critical part of everyday hygiene and there are many rules regarding personal cleanliness especially during menstruation ("Niddah" ).

It was also incumbent upon men to have this ritual immersion bath usually before Shabbat (Friday) prayers. In fact, one of the "Talmud" tractates (Tomes / Volumes) is specifically dedicated to the rules of Niddah.

2) Ritual Purification ↟↟

Or ritual purification (for example) "smoke bathing".

Most Americans will relate to "Smoke Bathing" either through "Smudging" or "Sweat Lodges" but this practice actually extends to many other countries like the older style "Sauna" (Finland), Sudan (dukhane), Japanese temple purification, and you sometimes see people doing this on survival TV shows.

Trivia

Doing this on survival TV shows is insane in my opinion because you now smell like smoke and your body is covered with millions of microscopic smoke particles.

Then you go hunting and guess what the number 1 fear wild animals have?

It is fire - and with fire comes the messenger called smoke.

And you wonder why so many of these "survivalists" almost starve to death.

The bible actually tells you why Nimrod was a mighty hunter because he smelled like the field.

These Days.

These days, the word Catharsis now includes the process of releasing, or providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

3) Baptism ↟↟

Christians will recognize baptism and associate it with one form of conversion or another, but the roots are also from the catharsis tree of being clean.

How Does Cathartic Meditation Work?

Catharsis can now be broken down into at least 4 categories.

1. Emotional
2. Psychological
3. Physical
4. Spiritual

Cathartic Meditation targets the Emotional, Psychological and even the Spiritual aspects of your life.

It seeks to create balance (at least) in your life either by redirecting the negative energies associated with whatever problem you may have or by resolving these "issues" through meditating on them and finding a solution to whatever the problem is and then taking steps to implement this solution.

I explain this is the example below in the "Gurdjieff Method" section using Love and Hate being a "Seesaw" with love on one side and hate on the other.

Screaming, Shouting Or Silence? ↟↟

Screaming and shouting is very damaging to the soul and this leaves long term Karmic scars which you cannot see, but your soul can remember.

In fact, Screaming and Shouting is "SO" detrimental to children that it has been repeatedly studied and it has been shown to cause children to become introverted, it is often the root cause of stuttering (as I was taught when I studied psychology) and this introversion carries over into adult life and negatively affects people throughout the entire life. +

REMEMBER THIS: How you treat your children when they are young, is how they will treat you when you get old.

Using your "intellect" to overcome your problems is a much better and more beneficial method of catharting.

If you are into "Prepping", then the absolute last thing you need on your "team" is someone who screams and shouts when there is a problem.

Imagine encountering some "bad guys" and you all need to remain quiet and then someone starts crying or screaming and drawing their attention towards your group.

Meditation like "Controlled Meditation" is highly beneficial because it teaches you to quietly and confidently work through your problems and not to freak out when confronted with extreme (or any) situations.

Internalize ↟↟

I was taught the Gurdjieff passive Beach-Meditation method when I was 18 and it has been an enormous help throughout my entire adult life.

Benefits Of Cathartic Meditation?

I am referring to the "passive method" only because I believe that the tantrum version is highly detrimental to your long term mental and even physical health.

• Calmer
• More focused
• Think clearer
• More control
• Better quality friends
• Less negativity
• More positive attitude and outlook
• I attract better quality people to me.
• Nicer person overall. ***

*** This is not an ego statement, I have noticed that when I go somewhere, the vast majority remember me with smiling faces, regardless of whether I was in my home country or traveling overseas - including the Middle East, Egypt, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, and other countries of great diversity.

Attract better quality people is also one of the goals of doing "Positive Affirmations".

I project positive energy and this appears to be reciprocated throughout most of my life.

I still encounter bad people occasionally - that is inevitable - but these are like insects on my windscreen of life, one flick of the wipers and they are gone.

Also, you are less inclined to hang around with nutjobs who scream and shout all the time. (there is a teenager joke or 6 in there somewhere)

Gurdjieff Method

George Gurdjieff developed the "Passive Form" of this meditation called "Beach Meditation" which I discuss on the Different Types Of Meditation page. (Beach Meditation link below)

It should be noted that Gurdjieff did not like the screaming and shouting business, but preferred to internalize emotions and thoughts and learn to control them.

For example, imaging Love and Hate being a "Seesaw" with love on one side and hate on the other.

You mentally convert the hate into love and the hate side goes down and the Love side rises up to The Creator - where it belongs.

Gurdjieff was focused on "control" because he realized that by being "IN" control could you travel safely.

Think of this like driving down a busy highway where you are the driver and while driving, you choose to sleep or play chess or read a book.

This is how most people travel through life today - almost no control.

I was taught this when I was 18 and I can tell you that it has made my life SO much easier and I do not need mind numbing medications to overcome problems.

If you do this method properly, you will notice that most (if not all) of your problems will simply "dissolve" but you must do this for at least 10 days - and NO electronics

I use meditation / not medication - small change, big difference.

1. "Beach Meditation"