Catharsis: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:05, 7 July 2006

Revision as of 10:55, 7 July 2006

Line 16:

==Religion==

Another meaning under the heading of 'purging' can concern body and soul—insoul— in religion, it concerns efforts made to come to terms with guilt and sin, as by [[penance]] such as by [[chastisement]] (in modern use of that word, the meaning of punishment has taken over from the original sense of purification), such as practiced by [[flagellant]]s; a testimony to the age of this use is the very name of the [[Cathars]] (a medieval sect).

In [[Mysticism]], the end of human life and of philosophy is to realize the mystical return of the soul to God. Freeing itself from the sensuous world by katharsis, the purified human soul ascends by successive steps through the various degrees of the metaphysical order, until it unites itself in a confused and unconscious contemplation to the One, and sinks into it in the state of ecstasis.

Thus in the [[neo-Platonism]] of [[Plotinus]], the first step in the return of the soul to God is the act by which the soul, withdrawing from the world of sense by a process of purification (katharsis), frees itself from the trammels of matter.

===Cathartic Sacrifice===

In early cults, the distinction between sacred and unclean is far from complete or well defined (see [[Taboo]]); consequently we find two types of cathartic sacrifice: one to cleanse of impurity and make fit for common use, another to rid of sanctity and in like manner render suitable for human use or intercourse.

* The most conspicuous example of the first class is the [[scapegoat]]. Two goats were provided by the ancient Hebrews on the [[Day of Atonement]]; the high priest sent one into the desert, after confessing on it the sins of Israel; it was not permitted to run free but was probably cast over a precipice; the other was sacrificed as a sin-offering. In like manner in the purification of lepers two birds were used; the throat of one was cut, the living bird dipped in the blood mingled with water and the leper sprinkled; then the bird was set free to carry away the leprosy. In both these rites we seem to have a duplication of ritual, and the parallelism of sacrifice and liberation is clear.

* As an example of the second class may be taken the sacrifice of the bull to Rudra. MM. Hubert and Mauss interpret this to mean that the sanctity of the remainder of the herd was concentrated on a single animal; the god, incarnate in the herd, was eliminated by the sacrifice, and the cattle saved from the dangers to which their association with the god exposed them. In the Feast of Firstfruits we have another example of the same sort; comparable with this concentration of holiness is the respect or veneration shown to a single animal as representative of its species (see [[animal worship]]). In both these cases the object of the rite is the elimination of impurity or of a source of danger. But the Nazarite was equally bound to lay aside his holiness before mixing with common folk and returning to ordinary life; this he did by a sacrifice, which, with the offering of his hair upon the altar, freed him from his vow and reduced him to the same level of sanctity as ordinary men.

Line 28 ⟶ 32:

*[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-36 ''Dictionary of the history of ideas'':] Catharsis

*{{1911}}

*{{Catholic}} [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10663b.htm Mysticism] & [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10742b.htm Neo-Platonism]

[[Category:Psychotherapy]]