Luke 8:35 · World English Bible
People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
A mind freed from what tormented it is a mind returned to sanity, sitting quietly at the feet of the love that healed it. The many voices that had claimed it, each a fragment of guilt insisting it was legion, are simply gone, because they were never a power, only a belief the mind agreed to hold.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
The same verse, read by 2 traditions.
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
A mind freed from what tormented it is a mind returned to sanity, sitting quietly at the feet of the love that healed it. The many voices that had claimed it, each a fragment of guilt insisting it was legion, are simply gone, because they were never a power, only a belief the mind agreed to hold.
Strange that the sight of a healed brother should stir fear, yet the ego dreads nothing so much as the proof that its torment can end. A mind restored to its right mind shows every mind still clinging to its own disturbance that the chains were chosen and can be laid down.
Man out of whom the devils departed: the mind restored to sanity once the fragments of guilt are released Devils: the many faces of guilt that claimed the mind, real only while believed, vanishing when love is near Feet of Jesus: the place of quiet learning, the mind at rest before the Teacher of love Clothed: the return to wholeness and dignity, the self no longer exposed and torn
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Once the thing that had ruled him was gone, the same man sat quiet and clothed, himself again, able to be near other people. The parts of him that had been scattered had come back together, and a self strong enough to hold a life had returned.
The strange detail is the fear of the people who saw it. One would expect only relief. But there is something awe-striking, close to frightening, in watching a broken person made whole, because it shows a force at work far larger than anything a person manages on his own. They were afraid because the change was too great to be human work, and standing near a power that size unsettles us even when it heals.
Christian Psychology lens
What disturbance have I been holding onto because I would not know who I am without it?
A settled mind is like water that has stopped being stirred. Nothing was added to make it clear, the mud simply stopped being churned.
Much of what torments you lives in your opinion about it, and you have the power to drop that opinion at any moment. When you drop it, you stand upright again.
The fires of craving, anger and confusion are not conquered, they go out when nothing feeds them. What remains is simply a person, cooled and sane.
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Christian Psychology
Psychoanalysis