The Obsessive Nature of the Self

What is obsession and does it control our lives? Normally one thinks of an obsessive person as one who has a propensity to cling unnecessarily to objects and ideas that consumes ones thoughts. The subtlety of the minds small but equally obsessive compulsions are masked by events that are considered image important. Just how obsessive is the mind? One might be surprised to find out that the mind functions primarily within varying degrees of obsession. A person is normally seeking to achieve and to acquire in order to bolster self image and conform to societal demands. When the mind attaches its self to an ideal and makes that ideal the center of ones life, then it is obsessive. If one can look at ones self, just be aware in the moment of ones own thoughts, then it may be possible to see how totally obsessed the mind is. That thought just moves from one obsession to another in an endless quest for identity and individualism.

One must realize just how completely obsessive the mind is. As the self, the minds identity seeks to be constantly living up to the projected image that it has of its self. This results in a consciousness that is obsessive in nature. Perceived threats to that image will contribute to stronger obsessive behavior. The mind is trapped in a maze of images that must be sorted out and catalogued according to ones ideological image. The ideal self seeks its image in psychological and material accumulation. Thought is obsessed with the constant need to reinforce image with conformity. The mind requires events to conform to a self created reality. When they do not (and they never do) one becomes anxious and obsessive. Because the mind is completely unaware in the deeper sense of ones compulsive tendencies, obsessive behavior is not realized or understood. But because it is generally controlled and somewhat suppressed, it does not appear as an abnormality.


When one is aware in the moment and all else that is thoughts movement has stilled, then it is possible to realize just how obsessive the mind is. It is possible to see all the nuances of a mind that is totally obsessed with being and becoming. Because one cannot accept the moment as what is one seeks to escape. That escape is the result of the fear of not conforming to a projected image. The obsessive nature of thought is part of the psychology of desire and of the accumulating mind that is seeking definition and identity. When one understands completely the origin of desire as that which confines, limits and ultimately destroys, then one will have realized the true self. The self that is seeking is the obsession of desire in its many forms, and its realization in the moment is the cessation of the divided. When one sees and realizes the division that is the self, then freedom is the outcome, which is the dissipation of the obsessive self.