Ok so Merl has me on an ancient Greece kick. Thats right— I rely on MM (and several other choice bloggers) to provide structure to my post-college at-home schooling curriculum. (So in the Hogwarts of my mind MM is up there at the head table with the likes of Seth Godin, The Leo, various Pixel Corp wizards and a random sampling of TED lecturers. Oh yeah and Andy Ihnatko is standing in for that Hagrid fellow.)

Anyway I am deep into the Greek thing trying to grasp Aristotle’s take on storytelling in the Poetics— you know, the root of creativity, the power of words, the nature of emotions— all that jive. So I’ve been chewing on this Katharsis idea and I got to say, it is sticking with me way more than the Buddhist 4 noble truths and path to enlightenment stuff.

And here’s why- I don’t think that I truly believe in any linear processes, real or metaphysical. Its all a circle to me. One big busy-wait loop. So back to katharsis— can we just let go? or should we recognize that the deep dark stuff inside is self generating and that we periodically need to burn it off in a (non violent, socially acceptable and non-ozone gas emitting) barnfire of emotion?

Here are a few better takes without all the hoowey.

Peter Finch — we all cringe at the final sound bight but the build up is great and relevant today in spooky way:

Natalie Mains— The Dixie Chicks went from being non-existent to me to having a permanent spot on my ipod rotation after March 2003:

and for good measure- our beloved Declaration of Independence. We all know the preamble by heart before the end of 4th grade, but what about the concluding line of the DoL. In my book it is one of the finest bad ass lines of history, all the more so because it is stated through clenched teeth, tight lips without a scrap of extraneous emotion:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Back the f up King George. These colonial boys are about to drop some serious katharsis on your ass.