Faith or Obsession?

Obsession and faith often share a perverted relationship. Indeed the definition of mental imbalance referred to as "obsession" too often applies equally to religious "faith" to an alarming degree.





Obsession is defined as a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or compulsive feelings that generate a driving emotion, often with symptoms of anxiety. When unreasonable ideas or emotions infect mental functions to the point of preoccupation, extremism becomes the inevitable consequence. The now-archaic understanding was that obsession was the state of being beset or acutated by the devil or an evil spirit. On the other hand, to hear voices from a burning bush, for example, or hear from visions that no one else could see are to be accepted as divinely instigated.





Faith has a way of whitewashing itself with explanations such as: "A confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness" of an idea, thing, or person. Such "faith" is thus presented as a reliance that need not rely on logical proof or material evidence. This in turn means to them that miracles are answers, not things to be questioned. "Faith" is also praised for unquestioning loyalty to man-formulated doctrines and the trust that "sacred" texts that were written by various unknown mortals present humankind with the only access into spiritual enlightenment.





The words "faith" and "obsession" both refer to some form of ego-gratifying conviction that panders to a sense of exclusivity, and a sense of exclusivity always solidifies as mental obstructions. The next step for the faithful or the obsessed is extremism that today infects so much of the world.





Recent research into brain activity has revealed that prominent neurological occurrences linked with religious impressions are activated and intensified in the limbic system--the part of the brain governing basic activities such as self-preservation, reproduction, and expressions of fear and rage. It has been shown as well that the prefrontal system of the brain--the prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex of the brain--play an influential role in an individual's religious devotion. Interestingly, persons suffering from obsessivie-compulsive disorders are shown to have dysfunctional activity in the same prefrontal systems.