TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
Other reasons also leave persons willing to enter onto a "path" and then end up staying on it, or willing to begin a "journey" which never reaches the destination but continue on that "journey" anyway, or willing to accept a treatment plan which they are told offers no cure for what ails them but they normalize that and stay with that ineffective plan, anyway.
34. The global prevalence of the manifestation of the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.
To "obsess" is to be focused on something over and over.
To be "compulsive" is to act on whatever one is obsessing about.
One result of obsessing, in additional to putting up with the constant chatter of a thousand monkeys in your head, is excessive anxiety and fear.
Common obsessive thoughts in OCD include:
• Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others
• Fear of losing control and harming yourself or others
• Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images
• Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas
• Fear of losing or not having things you might need
• Order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up “just right”
• Superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky
Common compulsive behaviors in OCD include:
• Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches
• Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re safe
• Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to reduce anxiety
• Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning
• Ordering or arranging things “just so”
• Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear
• Accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers or empty food containers
Of course, those might include some of the more extreme examples of the sickness. Understand that they can manifest in varying degrees and one can still be suffering from the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.
35. The global prevalence of the manifestation of fanaticism.
I have actually been asked, "So what's the problem with being fanatical about something?"
If one has witnessed the presence of fanaticism in a person and has then observed that person long enough, it will be seen exactly what the problem with fanaticism is, as explained by Denis Diderot:
“From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.”
The words of Zakir Naik (the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation) evidence the accuracy of Diderot's assertion when Naik said: “People who change their religion should face the death penalty.” (Uhhh, but don't you want 'the infidels' to all change from their religion to yours? Hummm.)
Flannery O'Conner noted, “You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission.”
Winston Churchill said, “A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.”
Mercedes Lackey: “Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the things they are willing to do to support it.”
Daniel C. Dennett adumbrated Maharaj's pointer that "knowledge is merely 'learned ignorance'" when Dennett said: “In the long run I certainly hope information is the cure for fanaticism, but I am afraid information is more the cause than the cure.”
36. The global prevalence of the manifestation of monomania.
Monomania is defined as "an exaggerated or obsessive enthusiasm for, or preoccupation with, one thing" and "a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas."
Here, non-duality pointers are shared many mornings via this blog, and then that's the end of it for the day. No one living near my house knows why seekers show up here on occasion; no one in the grocery store has a clue that non-duality pointers played a role in my realization;
I do not discuss non-duality at any time during the day except sometimes in passing with a few acquaintances who call for the sake of entering into and sharing "the dance." Non-duality-related emails are often ignored, and those dealt with usually receive only the briefest reply (to their often far-to-windy epistles). Here, there is no need to talk, much less a need to talk all day about non-duality. However, that is most assuredly not the way that monomaniacs operate.
Here, non-duality pointers are shared many mornings via this blog, and then that's the end of it for the day. No one living near my house knows why seekers show up here on occasion; no one in the grocery store has a clue that non-duality pointers played a role in my realization;
I do not discuss non-duality at any time during the day except sometimes in passing with a few acquaintances who call for the sake of entering into and sharing "the dance." Non-duality-related emails are often ignored, and those dealt with usually receive only the briefest reply (to their often far-to-windy epistles). Here, there is no need to talk, much less a need to talk all day about non-duality. However, that is most assuredly not the way that monomaniacs operate.
As an example:
During those days while abiding with a woman who suffered from both the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder as well as a religious monomania, her mental illnesses became so severe that - eventually - every word spoken had to also involve some linkage to God. Monomaniacs must forever think and talk and behave in a fashion which puts on display, for all to see, the object of their single-issue mania.
Some visitors to this site know that there was a time some 35 or so years ago when she found a house she wanted; some also know that several ego-states assumed by "floyd" drove him to answer the call. Fanatically, I was working 70 and 80 hours a week to meet the financial needs required for the maintenance and enabling of a monomaniac.
So the house was purchased and the long hours were worked in order to pay for the home desired by another.
Soon, the relatives and friends came to gawk, and when the "oouh's" and "ahhh's" came, so did the oft-repeated, monomania-inspired response: "Yes, God had truly blessed me." Really?
The comments were ignored for months, but eventually a response came (because I was still delusional and willing to waste my breath):
"Got a question for you."
"Okay."
"If I decide to quit working and the mortgage company foreclosures on this house, would I be the cause of that, or would God be the cause of that?"
"Are you feeling okay?"
"No, not really. So please answer the question."
[Dramatic sigh. Eye roll.] "Okay, I'll play along. Of course it would be your fault."
"Exactly. So if you lost this house but it was not God that caused it but it was me who caused it instead, then how is it that God is one who got this house for you?"
She, turning back to a song she was working on at the piano, said: "I don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about."
F.: "The point is, I don't need any credit or thanks or regular acknowledgements, but I am tired of constantly hearing your misplaced gratitude and giving your God all the credit for your having this home to live in."
[A dismissive shaking of the head followed.]
Of course, none of those comments by "floyd" could happen nowadays because there is nothing driving me to behave as a people pleaser, or to try to get "love" by buying it from the type of people who are selling it to the highest bidder, or to talk to persons who are not interested in the least in replacing their distortions and delusions and bogus beliefs with realistic perspectives.
37. To justify actions.
When "Jihadi John" beheaded "infidels," he wore a mask. Likely, there were several motives involved with that, but if he truly believed that what he was doing was "okay and, actually, just fine," then he would have been proud enough and courageous enough for all to see who he was and how he was serving God and Islam and what he was doing, supposedly at his God's command. But he knew, on some level, that his behavior was not "justifiable," so as he hid behind his mask, he had to find a way to justify his psychopathic conduct. He used his fanaticism-and-monomania-inspiring religion for that justification.
Voltaire, as far back as the late 1700's, asked: “What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men and that, as a result, he's certain he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?”
Salman Rushdie: “From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”
Margaret Atwood: “There were a lot of gods. Gods always come in handy; they justify almost anything.”
Obsessive? Compulsive? Fanatical? Monomaniacal?
Any of those will set the stage for one to be willing to enter onto a "path" and then end up staying on it, or willing
to begin a "journey" which never reaches the destination but continue
on that "journey" anyway, or willing to accept a treatment plan which
they are told offers no cure for what ails them but then normalize that and
stay with that ineffective plan.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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