Catharsis in other’s experiences
When I was in my 5th grade I used to wake up at 5 AM in the morning to study for that day’s exam at 9 AM(i.e to revise).
So I wake, go to the restroom to go through with my morning activities.
I will be completely messed up by the light in the bathroom with my eyes glared by the luminescence so I look out of my bathroom’s window to clear my eyes and clear my mind because you literally feel like you are still in your dreams when you wake up that early.
From that view, you could actually see the curved shed of a furniture store which is built on a basement that is few steps less than our apartment’s basement which allows me to view the terrace of the building next to the furniture store.
From that age till now when I occasionally wake up that early when the city is immersed in the darkness I see a small light source emerging from the corner of that terrace emphasizing itself negated by the darkness.
I can see an old man going through with his morning activities and I think that is basically his residence provided to him by the apartment owners.
Actually now I see that the man is old but is strong enough to get by on his own and is accompanied by his wife.
Well don't think of me a creepy dude looking through the window with scary eyes like Jack Nicholson from The Shining but the viewing comes from an inquisitive need to know more about them. How long have they been here, when did they join this job, what were their earlier days like and what led them here to this apartment all that fun stuff?
I am a guy who likes to sit next to a person who I may already know or not and listen to their story about how they came to this particular place where he is chatting with this strange and weird human being.
The path, the passage of time, course of events they narrate fills your heart with an ineffable cool breeze that withers all the hard feelings, hatred, ego, envy, negativity, and fear.
That cathartic moment makes you feel like this is the sole reason you were born in this world and the sole purpose of every human being on this earth, empathy and standing on other shoes.
This phenomena of listening to stories are not fruitful only for the pretentious writers and filmmakers but will subconsciously affect you in any work you perform in your particular field.
I am by no means emphasizing you to travel all the time to listen to stories. Just go out take a walk, listen to the story of the owner of the tea shop where you stop for a bit after a brisk walk to have a refreshing glass of delectable lemon tea.
He may not be initially very open about it but you can come every day or whenever you get time and extract bits and pieces of the whole story.
If you don't even want to go that far just listen to the stories of your school, college friends, or even your office colleagues because you were friends for some interest or an incident but you may have never heard their story.
Listening to other’s stories is cathartic and the sole purpose of all human beings on earth directly or indirectly is what I think.
That is how we evolved as a species and that is how we will evolve as individuals.
