Obsession (Spiritism)
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Obsession, also known as spirit obsession, is a technical term within the Spiritist belief and practice defined by the author
Allan Kardec Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869), known by the pen name of Allan Kardec (), was a French educator, translator, and writer. He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the foun ...
as the interference of a subjugating spirit with a weaker spirit (''cf.'' Latin ''obsidere'', "besiege"). Although the term most commonly refers to the negative influence of the spirit of an evil deceased person on the mind or spirit of a living person, obsession can occur in either direction. Obsession is believed by many Spiritists to be a major danger to unprepared and untrained
medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...
s. It is also believed to be one of the most frequent causes of
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
and criminal behaviour. Because the danger of obsession is a core belief within Spiritism, dealing with it is one of the cornerstones of Spiritist religious activity, and it is treated at
Spiritist centre Kardecist spiritism, also known as Kardecism or Spiritism, is a reincarnationist and spiritualist doctrine established in France in the mid-19th century by writer and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (known by his pen name Allan Karde ...
s by means of
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and teaching. Its centrality to Spiritist doctrine and practice is one of the marks that generally distinguishes Spiritism from both
Spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...
and the
Spiritual Church Movement The spiritual church movement is an informal name for a group of loosely allied and also independent Spiritualist churches and Spiritualist denominations that have in common that they have been historically based in the African American communit ...
. However, the 19th century Spiritualist author Paschal Beverly Randolph also recognized the dangers of obsession to mediums, and claimed to have been harmed by evil spirits during his own career as a Spiritualist lecturer and trance medium.


Types

Technically, "obsession" is any unwanted influence of a spirit, when it alters or suppresses the normal manifestation of the personality of the subject. It can occur when: * a spirit influences a living person, * a living person influences someone else, * a living person influences a spirit, * a spirit influences another spirit. In the first case the victim suffers but does not know where the suffering comes from. The obsessed may be led to behave abnormally without apparent reason and will not be able to explain their deeds or crimes. In the second case the victim knows they are being influenced and usually reacts, but is unable to resist the will of the obsessor. The victim may resort to violence. The third case mostly occurs when the spirit of a deceased person is not able to break their bonds with the living and hangs around, suffering as the living suffers. The fourth case is mostly like the second but occurs in the spirit world.


Degrees of obsession

Kardec proposed a classification of obsessions into three levels (of severity): # Simple: The spirit influencing the medium cannot disguise his or her presence. The medium knows that they are being obsessed and, therefore, can resist it. This type of obsession disturbs both the medium and those for whom they are carrying messages, especially because the medium may let slip random sentences due to influence of the , much to the surprise of those present. Uncontrolled, this form of obsession may cause the medium to be seen as mentally ill; at the least it will subject them to ridicule and destroy their self-esteem. Simple obsession is usually the result of the action of low spirits devoted to evil that take pleasure in the suffering imposed on the medium. This type of obsession is usually linked to revenge, and the spirit generally wants the victim to know the spirit's identity and motive. # Fascination: The spirit influencing the medium does not bother to disguise themself (or intentionally reveals themself), but disempowers the medium by cunning means, so that the victim will see whatever the spirit dictates as the purest expression of truth. The obsessing spirit will stop mediumistic communications from any other sources, so that the medium comes to depend solely on the subjugating spirit and will produce a large output of communication, mostly worthless. Fascination may be plotted to destroy someone's life or as an instrument to spread worthless theories that will hinder the progress of mankind. Some spirits also take pleasure from seeing the nonsensical things the mediums will do and preach following their advice. # Subjugation: The spirit overcomes the medium's will to the extent of controlling their body as the spirit's own. During the obsession crisis, the victim will not act as themself and will pursue whatever agenda the obsessing spirit has in mind. After the crisis, the victim may not remember anything, or may remember everything with great regret. Subjugation is of utmost danger because it reveals murderous designs on the part of the obsessor. The victim is often used as instrument to inflict pain on others or to commit crimes. Sometimes the obsessor wants to destroy the victim's life, but it may be the case that the victim is merely the instrument of revenge against the real target of the obsessor.


Causes of obsession

Obsession has the same kinds of motivation found among criminals who commit earthly crimes, namely (
envy Envy is an emotion which occurs when a person lacks another's quality, skill, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. Envy can also refer to the wish for another person to lack something one already ...
,
revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...
,
prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...
, and sadism). Additionally, there are motivations specific to spirits. * A lust for pleasures that the spirit, without a body of its own, cannot experience may lead the spirit to obsess a living person in order to share his or her emotions, eventually leading the victim to do things so that the spirit can partake of the victim's feelings. * An unconscious
desire to punish Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of a ...
or cause suffering to someone one hates or envies may lead the spirit of a living person to use its relative freedom during sleep to attempt to obsess another living person. * Prolonged grief for a deceased loved one may lead to the retention of strong bonds between the living and the dead, preventing the latter from leaving the world and going on with their missions.


Mediumship and obsession

The entire 13th chapter of ''
The Book on Mediums ''The Book on Mediums'' or ''Mediums and Evokers' Handbook'' (a.k.a. ''The Mediums' Book'' —''Le Livre des Médiums'', in French), is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philos ...
'' is dedicated to the subject of spirit obsession, mostly with the intention of warning new mediums of the dangers and responsibilities involved. According to Spiritist belief, we are all born with the gift of mediumship, but only a minority of mankind retains this ability into adulthood, and anyone who suffers from obsession has developed his mediumship to some extent. However, most people who are mediums are not aware of their condition and do not know how to deal with it.


Prevention and treatment

Not all mental perturbations have spiritual origins. It is necessary to rule out
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
or
psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior. Initial psychiatric assessment of ...
causes prior to any spiritual treatment. For instance, "to hear voices" may be a case of obsession, but is usually a simple case of
psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...
. Prevention of obsession is achieved by means of three precautions: * Learning and developing one's mediumship, if it is strong enough to be used as an instrument by obsessors (one may want to develop his mediumship for other reasons as well). * Living according to the commandments of God so that one's moral stature can act as a wall between him and the "inferior" would-be obsessors. * Praying for God's protection and guidance whenever one's will is weakened. The treatment for obsession is termed disobsession in Kardecist Spiritism. The cure is a lengthy process that involves all of the above treatments, but also: * Participation on mediunic meetings to assess the reasons why the obsessor is acting. * Forgiving and asking forgiveness by means of praying the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...
. * Befriend the obsessors (with the help of a Spiritist Centre) so that he understands his condition and how his behaviour is hampering his progress towards his own happiness. In overall, the solution to problem of obsession is threefold: * Learning the doctrine of the law of cause and effect * Living according to the doctrine of Christ (
Faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...
,
Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...
and
Charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
) * Loving each other as Christ taught, forgiving and asking forgiveness


Purpose

Although obsession is usually understood as an undesirable "side effect" of practicing spiritism, some proponents accept that some cases are intended to be "show cases" to attract the public interest towards spiritism. The victims in such cases may be either people who chose to suffer obsession to purge their guilt for being obsessors in previous incarnations or people who accepted to suffer for altruism, so that more people could find evidence of the existence of spirits.


See also

* '' Heaven and Hell'' (book) * Karma in Spiritism *
Spirit possession Spirit Possession is an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by Supernatural#Spirit, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or Deity, gods. The concept ...
*
Demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or occultism. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may be n ...
* Discernment of spirits *
Exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...


References

{{Spiritism and Spiritualism Spiritism