What is obsession
Allan Kardec offers us a
perfect definition in chapter 28, item 81, of The
Gospel According to Spiritism, when he informs that
"obsession is the persistent action of a bad Spirit on a
person". It is, therefore, a true persecution of a
disincarnate over an incarnate, and we can understand
this process, as Kardec explains in that same text,
because “evil spirits swarm around the Earth, as a
result of the moral inferiority of its inhabitants. Its
evil action is part of the scourges that humanity
endures in this world. Obsession, like disease, and like
all the tribulations of life, must be considered,
therefore, as a trial or an atonement, and accepted in
this condition”.
In The
Book of Mediums, in chapter 23, Kardec informs that
obsession is the “domain that some spirits can acquire
over certain people”. Following the text, the Encoder
clarifies that “it is always the inferior spirits that
seek to dominate, because the good ones do not exercise
any constraint. The good advice, they fight the
influence of the bad, and if they do not listen, they
prefer to withdraw. The bad guys, on the contrary, cling
to those who they manage to arrest. If they come to
dominate someone, they identify themselves with the
victim's spirit and lead them as they do with a child”.
In the book Genesis,
chapter 14, item 45, we find one more definition given
by Kardec, and which confirms what we wrote above: “Obsession
is the persistent action that a bad Spirit has on an
individual. It has very different characters, from the
simple moral influence without sensitive external signs,
to the complete disturbance of the organism and mental
faculties. It eliminates all mediumistic faculties”.
Let us briefly look at the characteristics of each
degree:
Degrees of obsession
In The Book of Mediums, Allan Kardec presents
three main degrees of obsession: simple obsession,
fascination and subjugation. Continuing his
publications, first in the Revista Espirita and later in
A Genesis, he presents a fourth degree: possession.
Simple Obsession - "it
occurs when a bad spirit imposes itself on a medium,
intrudes itself against its will in the communications
it receives, prevents it from communicating with other
Spirits and replaces those that are evoked" (The Book of
Mediums), chapter 23, item 238.).
Fascination - "it is an illusion created directly by
the Spirit in the medium's thought and that paralyzes in
a way his ability to judge communications" (The
Book of Mediums, chapter 23, item 239.).
Subjugation - “it is an involvement that paralyzes
the victim's will, causing him to act in spite of
himself. The medium is under a real yoke. The
subjugation can be moral or corporeal. In the first
case, the subjugated is led to make decisions that are
often absurd and compromising which, for a kind of
illusion, he considers sensible. In the second case, the
Spirit acts on the material organs, causing involuntary
movements” (The Book of Mediums, chapter 23, item
240).
Possession - “the free Spirit replaces, so to speak,
the incarnate Spirit; he takes up residence in his body,
without, however, leaving it permanently, which can only
take place in death. Possession is thus always temporary
and intermittent, since a disincarnated spirit cannot
definitively take the place of an incarnate” (Genesis,
chapter 14, item 47).
Recognizing the obsession
The obsessive process has distinct characteristics that
can be recognized by close observation. With reference
to mediums, Kardec lists nine characteristics, as we
read in The Book of Mediums, chapter 23, item
243:
1) Insistence of a Spirit in communicating whether the
medium wants it or not.
2) Illusion that - despite the medium's intelligence -
prevents him from recognizing the falsity and ridicule
of the communications received.
3) Belief in the infallibility and in the absolute
identity of the Spirits that communicate.
4) Acceptance of the praise given by the Spirits.
5) Willingness to walk away from people who can
enlighten you.
6) Take the criticism of the communications you receive
badly.
7) Continuous and untimely need to write.
8) Any form of physical embarrassment, dominating your
will.
9) Fluids and continuous disorders around him.
Regarding people in general, Andre Luiz, in the book Estude
e Viva (Study and Live), chapter 35, a
psychographics of the mediums Chico Xavier and Waldo
Vieira, in the message under the title Subtle
Spiritual Influences, also lists nine
characteristics to recognize the obsession:
1) Difficulty in concentrating ideas on optimistic
reasons.
2) Absence of an intimate environment to elevate
feelings.
3) Unexplainable indisposition, sadness for no apparent
reason and foreboding of immediate disaster.
4) Annoyances not manifested due to not finding
similar-minded or issues about on whom or on what to
unload them.
5) Surreptitious pessimisms, dull irritations,
complaints, exaggerations of sensitivity and aptitude to
condemn those who are not to blame.
6) Forced interpretation of facts and attitudes of you
or others.
7) Hyper emotiveness or depression bordering on tears.
8) Anxiety to invest in the role of victim or to take an
absurd position of self-righteousness.
9) Stubbornness in not accepting, for yourself, that
there is spiritual influence with you.
Causes of obsession
Obsession’s causes and
reasons are varied. In the study presented in chapter 23
of The Book of Mediums, we find in item 245 the
following explanations by Kardec:
“The reasons for obsession vary according to the
character of the Spirit. Sometimes it is the practice of
revenge against the person who has hurt you in your life
or in a previous existence. Often it is only the desire
to do evil, because, as he suffers, he wishes to make
others suffer, feeling a kind of pleasure in tormenting
and humiliating them. (…) These Spirits sometimes act
out of the hatred that arouses their envy of good, and
that is why they cast their evil on honest creatures.
(…) Others are driven by simple cowardice, taking
advantage of the moral weakness of certain people, who
know they are incapable of offering them resistance”.
In item 246 of the same
book, Kardec points out another reason: “There
are obsessive spirits without malice, who are even good,
but dominated by the pride of false knowledge: they have
their ideas, their systems on the sciences, the social
economy, morality, religion, philosophy. They want to
impose their opinion and for that they seek mediums who
are credulous enough to accept them with their eyes
closed, fascinating them to prevent any discernment of
what is true and what is false”.
In The Gospel
According to Spiritism, chapter 28, item 81, Kardec
is adamant: “Obsession
is almost always the vengeful action of a Spirit, and
most of the time it has its origin in the relationships
of the obsessed with the obsessor, in a previous life”.
This same explanation can
be found in Genesis, chapter 14, item 46: "Obsession
is almost always the fact of a vengeance exercised by a
Spirit, and which most often has its origin in the
relationships that the obsessed had with him in a
previous existence".
Action of the obsessive Spirit
How does the Spirit exercise its influence over the
incarnate? How can you dominate and subdue him? In item
81 of chapter 28 of The Gospel According to Spiritism,
Kardec explains: “In cases of serious obsession, the
obsessed is as involved and impregnated with a harmful
fluid, which neutralizes the action of healthy fluids
and repels them”.
In Genesis,
chapter 14, item 47, we have: “In
obsession, the Spirit acts externally through its
perispirit, which he identifies with that of the
incarnate; the latter is then entwined as if in a web
and constrained to act against his will”.
Regarding the fluids, the
perispirit and the mind, we understand the words of the
spiritual benefactor Bezerra de Menezes, recorded by
Yvonne Pereira in his book Memories of Mediumship,
chapter 10: “The
perispirit, my friends, is a living body, not liable
just to get sick if the mind is sick, but also to
reflect deplorable or sublime awareness states, and very
serious awareness states can cause mental illnesses in
an incarnate being, and we agree that this state is even
reflected in the physiognomic aspect of the individual.
All of these cases, influencing the nervous system, will
often affect the brain, since the former is the natural
vehicle of the perispirit, in the state of incarnation.
Hence the fact that the glandular systems of the human
brain system are affected. Attacks, seizures, epilepsy,
hypochondria, neurasthenia and depressions have
spiritual origins and are often cases also based on
obsession, obsessive hypnotic suggestion (hypnotic
suggestion is nothing more than temporary obsession,
when it is not positive), etc. Psychic treatment in such
cases will be of great value, although it does not
excuse the physical treatment. Addicting the mind with
inferior thoughts of any kind, a person will be
subjugated to total imbalance and, possibly, causing
obsessive harassment of suchlike disincarnated. These
are obsessed by themselves or by others, because they
want it. (...) Let us not lose sight of the fact that
the human body is only a delicate device, whose
batteries and life-conducting systems are directed by
the forces of the perispirit, and this, in turn, will be
commanded by the will, that is, the conscience, the
mind".
Treatment of obsession
It is possible to get rid of an obsession, for that we
follow the recommendations of Allan Kardec, who studied
a lot, observed cases and talked with the Spirits to
obtain the necessary information.
Let us see, what he
recommends in the aforementioned chapter and item in The
Gospel According to Spiritism: “By an action similar to
that of the healing medium in cases of illness, it is
necessary to expel the bad fluid with the help of a
better fluid, which in a way, causes the effect of a
reagent. This is what we can call a mechanical action,
but it is not enough. It is also necessary, and above
all, to act on the intelligent being, with whom one must
speak with authority, and that authority is only given
by moral superiority. The greater this is, the greater
the authority”.
Kardec continues: “And
that is not all, because to ensure liberation, it is
necessary to convince the evil spirit to renounce its
evil intentions, awaken its repentance and desire for
good, through skillfully directed instructions, with the
help of particular evocations, made in the interest of
his moral education. So you can have the double
satisfaction of freeing an incarnate and converting an
imperfect Spirit”.
Concluding his
observations, Kardec introduces another important
element for the treatment of obsession: “The
task becomes easier, when the obsessed, understanding
his situation, offers his will and his prayers. … In all
cases of obsession, prayer is the most powerful helper
of action against the obsessing Spirit”.
In chapter 14 of Genesis,
item 46, Kardec states: “To
guarantee yourself against obsession, it will be
necessary to fortify the soul; this results, for the
obsessed, the need to work for his own improvement,
which is usually enough, in most cases, to get rid of
the obsessor, without the help of strangers. Such help
becomes necessary when obsession degenerates into
subjugation and possession, because then the patient
sometimes loses his will and his free will”.
A little more about obsession
We recommend, in addition to the works of Allan Kardec
and other works mentioned in this text, a careful
reading of other Spiritist books: Liberacao (Liberation),
by the Spirit Andre Luiz, through the psychographics of
the medium Chico Xavier; and the book Nas Fronteiras
da Loucura (On the Borders of Madness), by the
Spirit Manoel Philomeno de Miranda, through a
psychographics by Divaldo Franco, in addition to the
works Obsession and Cure of Obsession, by Suely
Caldas Schubert, and Dialogue with the Shadow, by
Herminio Correa de Miranda.
Bibliography / References:
EMMANUEL / LUIZ, Andre. XAVIER,
C./VIEIRA, W. Study and Live. Rio
de Janeiro: Feb, 1972.
KARDEC, Allan. The
Book of Mediums,
Sao Paulo: Lake, 2014.
KARDEC, Allan. The Gospel according to
Spiritism, Sao Paulo: Feesp, 2012.
KARDEC, Allan. Genesis, A. Sao
Paulo: Lake, 1985.
PEREIRA, Yvonne do Amaral. Memories of
Mediumship. Rio de Janeiro: Feb, 1968.
Marcus De Mario is from Rio de Janeiro, where he
collaborates with the Spiritist Group Seara de Luz,
being the creator and director of Ibem Educa. He
is a writer, educator and speaker. |