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Obsession - When negative thinking becomes recurrent and dwells in an individual's mind this will cause him physical and spiritual disruption and discomfort.
Psychiatry states that fixed thoughts lead to obsession (from Latin obsessio, obsessionis) and that the person can only get free with professional help.
Ordinarily the word obsession is used to mean a fixed idea in something, generating a sick state of mind.
In the dictionary1 we find:
Obsession - persecution, vexation. Concern with a certain idea, which dominates the spirit in a sickly manner, and resulting or not of repressed feelings; fixed idea.
Psychology, however, records about obsession:
- is due to an obsessive compulsive disorder. The diagnosis of obsessional behavior is reached in the light of the anxiety-induced disturbances, which come from thoughts and ideas that insist on repeating themselves, going back and forth to the point of causing discomfort in the individual (the patient in the case), or even make him a candidate to get physical illnesses.
The patient perceives himself caught up in a recurring idea, but cannot get rid of it, occupying much of his time with this idea, so he suffers due to this, since his normal activities are harmed or even not performed.
But it is in Spiritism that we find deeper reflections, with the demonstration of the obsessive process, listing its causes (origins, sometimes in past lives). Moreover, Spiritist teachings offer the means for disobsession: the reciprocal removal of such a severe psychosomatic disorder between obsessor and obsessed, in preaching the self-reform of both, by the observance of Divine Laws.
In fact, the Doctrine of the Spirits deals largely with obsession, putting at the disposal of the interested countless and illuminating literary works, both of kind spiritual authors (by psychographic) and of incarnate scholars. Just as an example, I mention two profound and didactic works, edited by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation: Disobsession, by the Spirit Andre Luiz and Obsession / Disobsession, by Suely Caldas Schubert. Very useful for mediumistic groups and mediums docrinators!
It is from Allan Kardec (pseudonym of Professor Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, consecrated French intellectual - 1804-1869), the generic Spiritist definition: Obsession: It is the persistent action that an evil spirit exerts on an individual. It presents very different characters, from the simple moral influence, without noticeable external signs, until the complete disturbance of the organism and mental faculties. It obliterates all mediumistic faculties; (...) the evil action (of the evil Spirits that swarm around the Earth) is part of the scourges that Humanity has to deal with in this world.2
The spiritual author Manoel Philomeno de Miranda, by the psychographic of Divaldo Franco, in chapter 30 of the book Sementes de Vida Eterna (Seeds of the Eternal Life), Publisher LEAL, Salvador / BA, comments that the obsession takes place in the following procedures (not necessarily in the order below), all seen in our daily life and more particularly in the mediumistic meetings:
- From disincarnate to incarnate;
- From incarnate to disincarnate
- From disincarnate to disincarnate
- From incarnate to incarnate.
Suely Caldas Schubert, psychic and Spiritist writer, in her previously mentioned book Obsession / Disobsession3, with much property comments on the above expressions and another one - reciprocal obsession - exposed in the narrative of the Spirit Andre Luiz ("reciprocal persecution" between incarnate and disincarnate)4.
Several Spiritist writers refer to self-obsession, expressed by manias, neuroses, phobias, hypochondria, etc., starting with Kardec, when he stated: "It is not rare for Man to be the obsessor of himself”.5 Still the Spirit Andre Luiz, referring also to self-obsession, launches an alert regarding "ghost diseases".6
In general it is intuited that repetitive negative feelings originate pathological, physical and spiritual processes.
The fact is that in all the mentioned circumstances of obsession, what results is that it is a morbid psychic state.
Among the countless unhappy feelings that plague humanity, three emerge exponentially as obsessive, because they are most strongly set: revenge, envy and greed. Once they arise in thought and the soul grants those passports, they enter into the mind and there they are fixed. They are efficient promoters of obsession...
Revenge - Revenge is one of the fixed ideas of the longest transit, both materially and spiritually. In about thirty years of attending psychic meetings to protect unbalanced visitors, I have noticed that in most cases revenge appears as the motive of the obsession between disincarnate and incarnate. This is because revenge has a very dangerous peculiarity in terms of spiritual evolution among those involved: it always carries a solution of continuity, that is, the obsessor being in the spiritual plane is more able to harm the obsessed in the material plane; only that... as time goes by, this one reincarnates and the other disincarnates, from there flowing the same process, with the difference that the yesterday's obsessed becomes the obsessor of today, therefore the same process with changing of positions. This alternation tends sometimes to persist for long periods of time, both judging each other to be full of reason in this action.
In these unhappy endeavors the teachings of Jesus, extolling the blessing of forgiveness, that the Divine Friend gave the greatest example of all time on this planet, when, innocent, He suffered in Golgotha the most serious injury, also of all times.
In this context, the one and the other agent of obsession is advised of forgiveness, which is the only condition to recover peace. Without forgiveness, out of kindness, Divine Providence will delegate to pain the pedagogical pleasure of suffering to the obsessor and the obsessed, as an infallible inducer to the awareness of the misconception in which they incur.
Sooner or later, the truth is that one day both will correct themselves.
Envy - Envy is aimed at the desire to also possess the good, equal or better, material or immaterial, of someone who already has it.
When that which is envied is a material good, envy in many cases has been the driving force of actions, often misguided, that lead the envious to conquer and even surpass the envied good, if necessary, acting unlawfully.
The material good is conquered... It is a good that "needs" to be shown.
This is the eagerness that makes the envious an exhibitionist.
It is this that, most of the times, takes him to the bars of justice and then to jail, because sudden or excessive material goods are not difficult to have their illicit origin identified.
When there is envy of abstract goods of another, without possibility of identical acquisition, whether by merit, purchase, transfer, theft or robbery, the case changes radically of figure.
"What abstract goods would these be?"
- Several.
I mention a few examples: of success or beauty; of artist, writer, musician or researcher, famous; of high professional position; of prominent social position; high salary; the love of a boyfriend, a boyfriend, a husband, a wife; of publicly acclaimed oratory, etc.
"And what makes this envy of such abstract goods different?"
"It is that in those cases whoever wants for him the good, or the fame, or affection, or shelter, or love of like souls, is dealing with feelings.
And feelings are sacred. They cannot be demeaned.
We can take it for granted: the envious, immediately, shows insecurity.
If he looks safe from the outside, when he sees a material good with someone and desires an equal, he would say to himself: "From now on I will strive to achieve this also and God will help me".
And if the good is abstract, he would think: "good for him, he certainly deserves it".
Out of this posture, obsession in view…
Greed - Greed is a cousin of envy.
Possession of wealth is not always motivated by the desire to public display, but rather by the strong inducement caused by the revolt of judging oneself deserving more than so many millionaires.
There, not infrequently, is the misguided misappropriation, through theft or robbery, not necessarily of those millionaires, but by the way that proves to be more viable, such as corruption, gang formation, prevarication, etc.
Once he's treading on this misleading road, the covetous has his peace destroyed, self-indulging in obsession...
Together, envy and greed, have been upsetting minds for thousands of years, triggering betrayals, tragedies, family dissolutions, social crises and even war between countries. Installed in the minds of the envious / covetous, any value - small, medium or large - excludes from these minds the lesson of the Ninth Commandment from the so-called "Mosaic Law," which recommends not to envy "anything belonging to your neighbor".7
The difference between the two is that envy desires to possess a certain good belonging to someone else (material, social, professional, abstract, etc.), whereas greed aspires to riches, many riches.
Envy and greed hide themselves, disguise themselves, but as a rule, they soon emerge. This is because, in the impossibility of the incarnated agents not succeeding in their mistaken works, competent incarnated or disembodied obsessors, experiencing the same desires, instill in their mind the solution via crimes: taking away, stealing or even robbing, that is, without, or with violence. It's obsession.
Faced with failure, all those involved in envy or greed become highly unhappy, living bitter, angry, frustrated against "fate", or even blaming the heavens.
Thought-forms - Spiritism considers true that negative, fixed ideas, fall into obsession, besides creating mental beings: they would be the so-called thought-forms, on which it offers useful reflections:
In Genesis (1868), by Allan Kardec, it is recorded in chapter XIV, item 14:By the thought the Spirits imprint to the spiritual fluids this or that direction, putting them together, presenting an appearance, a form.
It is also seen in item 18: The thought of the incarnate acts on the spiritual fluids, like the one of the disembodied, and is transmitted from Spirit to Spirit.
And in item 20: Thought, therefore, produces a kind of physical effect that reacts on morality.
In the book Universo e Vida (Universe and Life), by the spiritual author Aureo, a psychographic by Hernani Sant'Anna, p. 80, 5th edition, 1998, FEB, Rio/RJ, one can see: It is necessary for us to understand that thought-forms (sic) are not always energy concentrations that can be easily disaggregated. According to the ideo-emotional nature of their structure and the intensity and constancy of their nourishing thoughts, they can become true carcinomas, monstrous automatized and active “beings”, certainly transient, but capable, in certain cases of surviving for whole millennia of terrestrial time, before coming apart.
Whatever the nomenclature for a fixed thought, or an obsession, understood as mental fixation, an effective barrier capable of stopping their action is that of the conduct suggested by Jesus when he advised us to be in constant prayer and vigilance: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation, for the spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak"(Matthew 26:41).
It was not enough, Jesus further advised: "You have heard what was said: You shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you: whosoever looketh on a woman with an evil desire hath committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27).
The Christ, who knew all the things of the world and what is going on in the human soul, emphatically advised prudence and that man should pray and watch over his thought.
He does not object to the reasoning that the Master thus proceeded to teach and warn about the mistake of the one who thinks that it is not sin to think only without doing something wrong or forbidden.
Another factor that stands out over the activity of a thought-form is its corporate property: on the path toward the target, or simply being thrown randomly into the psycho-sphere, its mental electromagnetic current, crossing or encountering others having equal vibration and intensity, at the same instant it is attached to them. It no longer has only the strength of the origin, but rather, it is much more powerful.
By embodying these reflections, there is no reason to infer that by the properties of the Spirit, of attunement or barrier (receptivity or repulsion) to the mental currents which circulate ceaselessly throughout the earthly psycho-sphere, we find that the result will invariably be determined by the intention of both source, as well as the desired objective.
Missionary Spirits, who are permanently concerned with helping others, are advised by spiritual protectors, who also work full-time at the service of Jesus.
This is how the untiring worker in the good harvest has strengthened his Spirit and perseverance, with a kind of blessed shield that prevents the harassment of forces of evil, from whatever source.
Disobsession - According to the premises of Spiritism, the cure of obsession requires a change of the mental screen, both obsessor and obsessed, removing negative thoughts of any kind, replacing them with constructive, preferably Christian ideas. If only one accomplishes such moral self-reformation, the obsessive bond will be broken, devoid of the efforts of the other party to the process.
Of great help to both will be the practice of forgiveness and charity!
Catalytic aid will also be found in the Spiritist Centers, where specific psychic meetings for disobsession provide clarification of the origins of this morbid state, unleashing the mental knot (usually between obsessor and obsessed), since both accept or only one, the invitation to new postures, necessarily evangelical.
The mediumistic and doctrinal practice in the Spiritist Centers aims to lovingly protect, enlighten and induce sick Spirits to change their distressing behavior, to rescue peace. The medium doctrinator sensing the presence of obsession on the part of the one of the spiritual plane being attended advises it to practice the sublime psychotherapy of forgiveness and the love to the neighbor.
This same procedure is applied to the incarnated ones, when they attend the Spiritist Center in search of spiritual balm, if in the "fraternal care" and in sensible interviews, the interviewer detects or senses the obsession.
Both of them - obsessor and obsessed - with a unique feeling of helping them to get rid of spiritual disturbance, are invariably advised a holy remedy: Gospel therapy!
7 Exodus, 20:17.
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