The Meaning of Metanoia Praxis, Part One
Metanoia is a Greek word that is has different meanings in different contexts, but the idea always involves a changing of the mind or thoughts.
In rhetoric (the art of using language to communicate effectively), metanoia refers to a technique to retract a statement just made, and then state it in a better way.
In psychological, metanoia refers to a process of self healing that could be extreme, even to the point of a psychotic breakdown. It is not always best to prevent such episodes in psychosocial treatment because the underlying issue that caused the problem would still exist. According to Carl Jung, metanoia, in this context, is a “spontaneous attempt of the psyche to heal itself of unbearable conflict by melting down and then being reborn in a more adaptive form.”
The term metanoia is most often used in the context of theological discussions where it is usually means repentance, or more literally, the changing of one's mind. This change is more than a simple act of turning in a new direction. It implies moving to a higher, more perfect, way of thinking.
So, in the context of this blog, metanoia is the process, however traumatic and painful, of changing one’s mind to think in a more perfect way and communicating that change effectively.
In the near future, part two of this discussion will focus on the word praxis.
Picture source: Vladimir Kush
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