Welcome back to W’ab Wednesday, my personal exploration of purity and it’s place in my life.
Today I am thinking about purity of relationships. What is purity in an interpersonal context?
No relationship, romantic or platonic, can ever be completely free of conflict–even if that conflict is so simple as disagreeing on where to get lunch. Purity can never be considered a lack of conflict. That simply isn’t realistic, and certainly isn’t healthy. I think that between people, purity refers to an attitude, rather than a concrete state. When we are open with one another, and when we are considerate of ourselves and others, we are in a state of interpersonal purity. Harboring grudges, speaking passive-aggressively, and of course outright hurting each other all contribute to impurity. Rather than avoiding conflict, then, we strive to meet it openly and appropriately, without lashing out.
Loving everyone is a noble goal, but that is equally as problematic as being abrasive and bitter. It isn’t necessarily appropriate to love everyone. It isn’t appropriate to love a person who has hurt you deeply, or a person who actively wishes harm upon you, in my opinion. It is, however, appropriate to act to safely maintain the space you need from these people.
As with everything, it comes down to the balance of Ma’at. We maintain closeness where needed, and create distance in other areas. We give of ourselves and we receive in return. When these things become disproportionate, we fall into impurity.
What is most important is to remember this: impurity is a part of life. We correct the balance for a time, and move on, constantly adjusting and moving and balancing within Ma’at. Purity is an action, not a state of being. So we do it: in our homes, within ourselves, in our lives.
carrying their light 
Everything that you have written in this post resonates with me. Each point strikes me as a balanced and Maat oriented notion. And I do believe that this is the way that these matters would have been conceived of in Ancient Kemet.
For me, the term “purity” is barbed: it is laden with the premise that somehow we are dirty as is. (I was brought up a catholic – long since abandoned – but their doctrines have a habit at sneaking back into my realm).
I try to focus less on the term “purity”, and think more about the experience of what happens when I undertake the ritual of purification. I have noticed more and more that an almost trance state begins to occur, and that the real act of submersing myself in a bath of natron physically changes the energy field (?) / vibration (?) of my physical form. This readies me for interaction at Shrine that I was otherwise not as well prepared for.
What do you think about this?