PHILOSOPHY OF CORRUPTION

Everybody talks about corruption in our society, especially in politics and governance. We debate and analyze the degree of corruption at various levels of the municipal, provincial and federal governments. In third world countries, one has to pay bribe at every stage of life to get things done. These bribes may be for the purpose of obtaining a power connection for the industries or a license, getting legal protection from the police or obtaining pension upon retirement or any legitimate work which should have been done otherwise in the normal course of working. Public services provided by governments of these developing nations, do not work without greasing the palm of officials or  politicians. People are not ashamed, even if financial scandals of colossus proportions are exposed one after another. They point fingers towards politicians and government officials and pass all the blame for this acute malady on them.

As a matter of fact, no part of this world is free from this moral putrefaction and loss of national character. But the problem is acute in third world countries including developing nations, where every department of government, financial institutions, educational establishments, health organizations, private or public institutions are engaged in corrupt practices. Nobody is concerned about the welfare of people and society or the suffering humanity. Majority of them are shamelessly engaged in amassing ill-gotten wealth at the cost of the helpless and destitute. The greed for money or power has made them inhuman and no less than a vulture in character. As such, corruption in those countries have become blisters on the face of nations resulting in chaotic and dysfunctional governance.

We as citizens of the world feel mortified the way society and nations are degrading all across the globe. In the hope of having corruption free governance, people in those countries replace the governments but replacements prove to be equally incompetent and corrupt. The multitude of corruption keeps growing like a rolling snow ball and sometimes it appears to have become a way of life. Those who are indulged in corrupt practices also complain about corruption when their interests are not taken care of. It seems that the abyss of greed and moral turpitude is going to engulf the entire society and civilization per say. And the irony is that people shy away in voicing concerns because their concerns are also dictated by their selfish interests and impoverished morality. They keep on whining but do not do anything because corruption in society in-fact reflects their own selves and blemished faces in the mirror. Their leaders are corrupt because they are corrupt ethically, morally and spiritually and as such they elect the most corrupt amongst them in a democratic framework.

Rule of Law:

Corruption or corrupt practices thrive in countries where rule of law is not enforced or in other words public and politicians alike are actively engaged in undermining the enforcement of rule of law. The rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law and there cannot be any exceptions in its essence, spirit and enforcement. Even if God or the most powerful person is caught in violating laws of the land, he or she should be tried and punished like anybody else to establish fear and respect for the rule of law.

Wherever rule of law works in toto or to some reasonable extent, societies are free of corruption and ordinary people get the same service which is meant for the President or Prime Minister of the country. Everybody respects law and seldom people think of violating them. This gives rise to a civilized society and enforcement of the rule of law, provides people happiness, security and a good quality of life. In contrary, people in third world nations subjugate the law under them by bribing lawmakers and law enforcing agencies and hence make a mockery of the entire legal and administrative system.

Therefore questions come up that how and why we become corrupt in managing our society or nation? What are the root causes of corruption? Are we born corrupt or become corrupt in the process of growing? Is it the human nature to become corrupt in a given scenario? Is it the character of an individual or the entire population? Is it due to lack of education and understanding? Can we overcome our corrupt behavior? Is it a national character or one of few individuals? Is there any role of local laws and regulations promoting the growth of corruption?  Is corruption all over the world or in few countries? If a nation and its people are less corrupt then what makes it a better country than other corrupt nations? How can we overcome this cancerous malignancy which is destroying our civil lives?

ROOT CAUSES:

Generally we treat corruption in terms of financial misappropriations, embezzlements or scandals but ignore the key factors which are the building blocks of our morality. And if we lay the foundation of our moral and ethical standards by ignoring the quality of thoughts in our daily lives, then we will never be able to build a strong character for ourselves and the nation as a whole. We forget that financial corruption is one of the causes which is the outcome of the overall moral and ethical corruptions within us and which is spoon-fed to us right from the day one we are born.

Charity Begins at Home:

Children are born with all simplicity and purity. Their mind is like a blank slate or white canvas ready to be written or painted with words of wisdom and knowledge. As they grow, we adults as their parents and primary teachers, start programming their innocent minds by providing our biased, cocooned or tainted knowledge. If we are enlightened mentally and spiritually, then we program their mind with words of wisdom and in contrary if we are corrupt mentally, then we make them like us. The programming of a child's mind and process of information is also transferred to them by way of audio-visual presentations given by us in our daily discharge of chores inside the house.

For examples- when we present our short temperedness in front of them and use abusive languages with other members of the family; when we talk foul about friends and relatives or back bite them; when we make a negative analysis or manipulate things in our favour; when we insult our elders and misbehave with them; when we smoke or drink or watch adult movies or use prohibitive words; when we are so greedy that for money we are willing to cheat our kin’s; when we differentiate between offspring’s on the basis their gender and give more importance to boys over girl;  when we give more importance to one child over another due to their beauty, position or financial success etc., then a child’s mind starts getting poisoned by listening or watching us and they grow up with a mental framework of accepting the family environment as a normal way of life. Our foul languages, wrong actions, behaviour and audio-visual presentations in daily life, casts shadow in the overall atmosphere of the family, and as such we as parents start the process of corrupting their minds from the day-one they are born.

Now the question comes up - Does education makes a difference?

Once we corrupt the family environment then we cannot expect our society to be corruption free. And if the society is corrupt then how can we expect our leaders to be honest and trustworthy. In my experience modern western education has zero roles in making a society corruption free. I have seen several so-called educated people from premier institutions, indulged in bribery and corruptions and having no control on their burgeoning greediness and selfishness. I could have provided several examples of politicians and businessmen having graduated from Oxford and Harvard indulged in bribery and corruption of mammoth proportion. As a matter of fact, few people at the helm of banking and finance from these schools, having an endless greed for money, caused the crash of world market in the year 2008, thereby wiping out life's savings of hundreds and thousands of pensioners and middle class people around the world.

Therefore, lack of education may contribute in diminishing the level of quality of mind but cannot be the root cause of mental corruption? I have also seen some illiterate people more virtuous than many people having university degrees. The farce of the modern education system is that we seem to be educated, only in terms of subjects of a particular profession or vocation but we do not seem to inculcate or develop the virtues of life. If higher education enlightens our mind, then we should have been in firm control of our emotions, greed and actions. But it is not, and that is why we are incapable of thinking beyond ourselves. This is also the reason that many so-called educated people are suffering from mental strife, tensions in personal relationships, vanity and clash of egos. There is an absolute dearth of humanly understanding, compassion, compromise, sacrifice and adjustment in their personality. In this situation when we are ourselves mentally corrupt on personal level then how can we become a nice human being and make our society corruption free?

In the words of the former President of India Abdul Kalam Azad “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are father, the mother and the teacher.”

Therefore I strongly believe that the processes of corrupting our minds, starts from home and gradually transcends to our society and the nation at large. In order to hide our mental perversion, we point fingers toward politicians and government officials. The degree of corruption in people determines the character of a nation and it shows, how farcical and hypocritical we are.

The famous Austrian writer of nineteenth century Karl Kraus said “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.”

Now it would be quite interesting to see how countries in the world are ranked in case of corruptions in their countries. 

RANKING OF CORRUPT COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD:

On a world level some nations are less and some are more corrupt. The ‘Transparency International’ monitors the level of corruption in every country. As per their 2012 report, Top 10 Less Corrupt Countries from top to bottom (1 to 10) are:

  

1)    Denmark

      2)    New Zealand

      3)    Singapore

      4)    Finland

      5)    Sweden

      6)    Canada

      7)    Netherlands

      8)    Australia

      9)    Switzerland and

     10)  Norway.

And Top 10 Most Corrupt Countries from bottom to up (178 to 168) are:  Somalia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Chad, Burundi and Equatorial Guinea.

In between them, Germany ranks 15, Japan ranks 17, UK ranks 20, USA ranks 22, France Ranks 25, Italy ranks 67 and India ranks 87.

Based on the above ranking, one can presume the percentage of people being corrupt in a country. The percentage of corruption also determines the quality of life in a country. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has analyzed 34 member countries in 11 categories including income, housing, jobs, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance. As per their survey, 10 countries with the highest quality of life from top to bottom are:

     

1)    Australia

      2)    Sweden

      3)    Canada

      4)    Norway

      5)    Switzerland

      6)    United States

      7)    Denmark

      8)    Netherlands

      9)    Iceland and

    10) United Kingdom. 

Therefore, to sum up, there is no quick fix for removing corruption from our system unless we change ourselves or a revolution of a mammoth scale takes place in which not the leaders but rule of law is firmly and diligently established.  In the current situation, if a leader with high moral values will try to remove corruptions from the society, then we will not let it happen; because we are ourselves corrupt in many ways in our daily chores of personal lives. And if we make a baby step today in this direction by introducing compulsory subjects on moral values and ethical standards for students of grade one to twelve, then I think, it will take at least three generations to change the mentality and the way we think and do certain things. 

Now I will like to raise questions to our professional friends around the world that how do we perceive corruption in the professional world? Does it make an impact in our professional lives?  I solicit your answer for the enlightenment of readers of this blog.

Suman Saran Sinha

A pursuer of logical quest

PHILOSOPHY OF COMMONNESS

We get exhilarated by meeting extraordinary people or people with qualities not seen commonly otherwise. We also get flabbergasted when we see extraordinary performances by extraordinary people which are also not common. We do not get tired of praising people in our writings or discussions or quotations who have reached the highest pedestal of society due to their intelligence, skills, hard work and ability to take risk. Those people may be top film artists, writers, politicians, sportsperson  businessmen, bureaucrats, scientists or anybody who is recognized by the media or famous otherwise in the world. If we get a chance to be associated with them, then we feel our positions are elevated in society. If any one of them belongs to our community, society or country then it gives us a further sense of pride and personal gratification.

Have we ever thought about what makes them different from the rest of the world? Why are they extraordinary? How have they achieved unusual qualities which have made them different from the rest?

They have become different because they are not common. Their thinking is not common. Their way of life is not common. Their actions are atypical.  Their visions and dreams are uncommon. They are trend setters for the common people. We cherish the idea of becoming like them. We teach our kids to become like them and follow their ideals. Yet we act, behave, think or talk like a common person. Being pointed out as a common person or having our thoughts or actions characterized as common, we feel humiliated or insulted. Therefore, what makes us a common person? What are the characteristics of a common person? What are the attributes of common people? How do we distinguish ourselves from a common person and an uncommon or extraordinary person?

I am forced to write on this topic when I see this duality of characters in people all around me.  Why are people so hypocritical in projecting themselves to the world? In order to understand this double standard, it is pertinent to analyze the background and behavioral psychology of people.

Number of Famous People in the world

Wikipedia has made some interesting calculations about the number of famous people in the world. They have made simple calculations by calculating the fraction of living people having Wikipedia pages. Wikipedia requires a certain threshold of notability for someone to get a Wikipedia page. They have taken that number and divided by the total global population to get the fraction of famous people in the world.

According to Wikipedia “as of January 15, 2013, the number of pages in the category of Living People on Wikipedia is 604,174. The total global population is 7,059,837,187. This means that the fraction of living famous people is 0.000086 which comes to 1 in 10,000.”

It also means that 9,999 people or 99.99 percent of people are common in their thinking, behavior and actions; therefore they cannot be recognized as famous persons. Wikipedia may be wrong in their assessment. Several people having extraordinary qualities may not have been listed in the Wikipedia pages due to one or another reason. Even if we double, triple or quadruple this number, the percentage of the total population having people with a non famous personality, or common way of thinking, or people devoid of extra-ordinary qualities will remain 99.99%.

Personality Types

Therefore, we will have to understand what qualities make a person common or non common or famous.  To start with we will discuss about the personality types which differentiates a common person from non common people.

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychotherapist developed the concepts of the extroverted and the introverted personality which is the characterization of human consciousness and its general attitude. According to Jung, a person’s ‘psyche’ is represented by their conscious and unconscious parts and they are in a self-balancing state. This means if a person’s conscious side or attitude becomes dominant or extreme, then the unconscious will surface or manifest in some way to rectify the balance. He also asserted that at times in people the unconscious can surface and project to the outside world, particularly other people.  He also characterized its preferences within the two pairs of its mental functions: Sensing- Intuition and Thinking- Feeling. The three parameters introduced by Jung are bipolar dimensions where each pole represents an opposite preference. As per Jung, out of two one of the mental functions is dominant in a person.

Later on, Isabel Briggs Myers, an American author and her mother Katherine Cook Briggs created a personality inventory by adding fourth dichotomy with the opposite poles of Judging and Perceiving which came to be known as Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). As per them, there are 16 different combinations representing 16 different personality types. They are:

1)    ESTJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking and Judging) – The Guardian – Exceptionally capable in organizing and running activities. Good citizens who value security and peaceful living. Practical, traditional and organized. Loyal and hard working. Likely to be athletic. Not interested in theory or abstraction unless they see the practical application. Have clear visions of the way things should be.

2)    ESTP (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving) – The Doer – Great people skills, friendly, adaptable and action oriented. Focused on immediate results. Living in the here-and-now. They are risk takers who live fast-paced lifestyles. Impatient with long explanations. Extremely loyal to peers but not usually respectful of laws and rules if they get in the way of getting things done.

3)    ESFJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling and Judging) – The Caregiver – Well developed sense of space and function. Warm hearted, popular and conscientious. Tend to put the needs of others over their own needs. Feel strong sense of responsibility and duty. Value traditions and security. Interested in serving others. Need positive reinforcement to feel good about themselves.

4)    ESFP (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling and Perceiving) – The Performer – Well developed common sense and practical ability. They dislike theory and impersonal analysis. People oriented and fun loving. They make things more fun for others by their enjoyment. Living for the moment and they love new experiences. Interested in serving others and likely to be the center of attraction in social situation.

5)    ISTJ (Introvert, Sensing, Thinking and Judging) – The Duty Fulfiller – They are serious, quiet, interested in security and peaceful living. Extremely thorough, responsible and dependable. Well-developed powers of concentration. They can usually accomplish any task once they have set their mind to it. Usually interested in supporting and promoting traditions and establishments. Well organized and hard working, they work steadily towards identified goals.

6)    ISTP (Introvert, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving) – The Mechanic- Quiet and reserved, interested in how and why things work. Excellent skills with mechanical things. Risk takers who they live for the moment. Usually interested in and talented at extreme sports. Detached and analytical, they excel at finding solutions to practical problems. Uncomplicated in their desires. Loyal to their peers and to their internal value systems, but not overly concerned with respecting laws and rules if they get in the way of getting something done.

7)    ISFJ (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling and Judging) – The Nurturer – Quiet, kind and conscientious. Can be depended on to follow through. Stable and practical, they value security and traditions and usually puts the needs of other above their own needs. Well developed sense of pace and function and rich inner world of observation about people. Interested in serving others and extremely perceptive of other’s feelings.

8)    ISFP (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling and Perceiving) – The Artist – Quiet, serious, sensitive and kind. Loyal and faithful.  Do not like conflict and not likely to do thing which may generate conflict. Loyal and faithful. Likely to be original and creative and enjoy the present moment. Extremely well developed senses and aesthetic appreciation for beauty. Not interested in leading or controlling others and flexible and open minded.

9)    ENTJ (Extrovert, Intuition, Thinking and Judging) – The Executive – Intelligent and well informed and excel at public speaking. Assertive and outspoken and they are driven to lead.  They value knowledge and competence and usually have little patience with inefficiency or disorganization. Excellent ability to understand difficult organizational problems and create solid solutions.

10) ENTP (Extrovert, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving) – The Visionary – Excellent ability to understand concept and apply logic to find solutions. Creative, resourceful and intellectually quick. Good at a broad range of things. Enjoy debating issues and may like to lead. They get very excited about new ideas and projects, but may neglect the more routine aspects of life. Generally assertive and outspoken.

11) ENFJ (Extrovert, Intuition, Feeling and Judging) – The Giver – Very effective at managing people issues and leading group discussions. Interested in serving others and probably place then need of others over their own needs. Popular and sensitive with outstanding people skills. Extremely focused with real concern for how others think and feel. Usually dislike being alone. They see everything from human angle and dislike impersonal analysis.

12) ENFP (Extrovert, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving) – The Inspirer – Enthusiastic, idealistic and creative. Abe to do almost anything that interests them. Open minded and flexible with a broad range of interests and abilities. Great people skills. Need to live in accordance with their inner values. Excited by new ideas but bored with details.

13) INTJ (Introvert, Intuition, Thinking and Judging) – The Scientist – Independent, original, analytical and determined. Long range thinkers and have very high standards for their performance and the performance of others. Natural leader but will follow if they trust existing leaders. Driven to derive meaning from their vision. High value knowledge, competence and structure. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action.

14) INTP (Introvert, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving) – The Thinker- Quiet and reserved. Hard to get know well. Individualistic and having no interest in leading or following others. Logical, original, creative thinkers. Can become very excited about theories and ideas. Exceptionally capable and driven to turn theories into clear understandings. Highly value knowledge, competence and logic.

15) INFJ (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling and Judging) – The Protector-Well developed value systems which they strictly adhere to. Quietly forceful, original and sensitive. Well respected for their perseverance in doing the right thing. Likely to be individualistic, rather than leading or following. Extremely intuitive about people and concerned for their feelings.

16) INFP (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving) – The Idealist – Well developed value system, which they strive to live in accordance with. Extremely loyal. Quiet, reflective and idealistic. Interested in serving humanity. Interested in understanding and helping people. Adaptable and laid-back unless a strongly held value is threatened. Usually talented writers. Mentally quick and able to see possibilities.

I think the above psychoanalysis or personality types do not cover all types of people on this planet and is meant for professional people having some extra-ordinary qualities. Because common people's psychology is influenced by all kinds of negative and positive and sometime illogical, irrational and bias thinking due to their religious, social and cultural belief which keeps changing as per their mood and temperament. As such they have no control on their emotions which goes up and down like a Yo-yo  Their thoughts are influenced by negativity or positivity or sometime neutrality. 

Common way of thinking

Therefore, the above logical analysis of Carl Jung and Myers Briggs, have not taken into consideration the influencing factors in the framing of a common person’s psychology. A common person’s way of thinking at large is perceived and influenced by their family, society, culture, economy, religion and educational background and in turn it makes them an extrovert or introvert, judging and perceiving. For example, Carl Jung's and Myers Briggs psychological analysis will become absolutely useless on a caveman because the caveman’s environment is unique.  Likewise every person or groups of people have unique social, cultural religious and family environment in which they have grown and their personality type, judging, thinking and perceiving ability have also become unique and suited to their respective environments. May be the unconscious part of a common man's psyche contains these influencing factors as described by Carl Jung which are parts of their true nature and not visible otherwise.

The perceptions about certain criteria or norms are also based on average percentiles of experience in a particular society or group, influencing a person’s thinking or doing certain things. As a result, peoples thought processes are cocooned in that parameter. They do not want to venture out of their secured and time tested inner environment.

For example, at a common parlance people say -I do not want to take the risk of doing business or changing jobs or trying something different. This change is a perceived threat which they do not wish to take to become uncommon. Either they lack courage or skills to maneuver the intricacies involved in doing something away from their cocooned environment, or they seem to be too engrossed in protecting themselves what they have without any risk. Common thinking is also marred by negative thoughts, which makes them over cautious and deprives them of the resulting fruits as an outcome of risk taken. And those who take these risks become successful and set an example for society.

Common people will always site an example of successful or extra-ordinary people as their role model but they themselves withhold on walking upon their path or try to become like them. Because trying to become extra-ordinary holds a lot of risks and requires extra ordinary capabilities. There may be several examples of successful people; how they started with nothing and became millionaires or billionaires at some stage of life because they have taken risks and were not afraid of trying something new and going out of the set patterns of society.

Colonel Harland David Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC became successful at the age of 65 after failing 1009 times or being rejected miserably. How many of us can really hold on and continue from where we had started off with?

Abraham Lincoln, 16^th President of the United States of America, had to file bankruptcy in 1833 because of back payments and debt and later on he became the President of the most powerful nation on earth.

Henry Ford, founder of FORD motors and the most successful car manufacturing company of today had to file personal bankruptcy twice.  Likewise Walt Disney the cartoon creator and founder of Disney World and Henry John Heinz, manufacturer of Heinz Ketchup and other condiments also had to go through failures and bankruptcy. There are several examples of people who struggled in the beginning and became successful at the end. The latest example includes Steve Jobs of Apple Computers.

In order to become successful or extra-ordinary, one will have to go through the trials and tribulations whereas common people would like to stay miles away from these risks. Their personality is also affected by negative traits which are as follows:

1.    Greed- Ordinary people are too greedy not to move out of their dwellings or try something new for the fear of losing it or craving for more with little or no effort.

2.    Jealousy- They are always jealous of other people who are more successful than them which generates negative energy in their personality.

3.    Ego- Their ego is always at the peak and they become offensive if they are underestimated. This makes them blind to see the reality.

4.    Anger- They lack control of their mental temperaments and become angry with little instigation. This reflects on a person's self controlling ability.

5.    Hatred- Since they differentiate between human beings - castes, color, religion or race, they suffer from the feelings of hatred and disparity. This surrounds a person with negativity.

6.    Clever- They are too clever to risk anything for the fear of losing it.

7.    Critical- They are always critical of an idea or proposal and very good in looking into the negative aspects of everything while ignoring the positive side.

8.    Over Analytical- It is good to be analytical but generally common people are over analytical and in the process they lose momentum.

9.    Show-off- They like to exaggerate more than what they have in reality. This makes a person too small in themselves.

10. Uncompassionate- They lack compassion towards human sufferings. They may talk about it but do little or nothing.

11. Conceited- They are sometime arrogant and look for self praise. This attribute projects negative influence. 

12. Selfish- They think about themselves more than anybody else’s feelings. This suppresses positive side of a person's personality.

13. Religious- They pretends to be religious and believe in ritualism more than humanism. Being over religious proves that they have little or no knowledge of the concept of the God. They are more God fearing than God loving.

14. Uneducated – They may be having several degrees or holding high positions in public places but they are spiritually uneducated and boastful. Education is a state of mind where a person feels enlighten about the intricacies of natural tendencies, human nature and their behaviour, why and how people act or react in a certain way and gets the true knowledge of his or her being in this world. I have already written about the so called uneducated degree holders in my article ‘Philosophy of Education”.

To sum-up, a person can become famous or extra-ordinary only if they are able to control all or some of the attributes of common people as mentioned above. To prove this premise you may start analyzing successful people around you (not corrupt politicians or bureaucrats) and try to see the degree of above traits present in their action, behavior or personality. You will find the amazing difference.   

Therefore, to become uncommon from common, extra-ordinary from ordinary one will have to make efforts with a positive attitude, trust in oneself and believe in God. One should always remember “Success is not final and failure is not fatal.” It is the courage to  try constantly for achieving goal (and the goal may be getting rid of above mentioned negative traits) matters a lot, which will make an uncommon from common, extraordinary from ordinary.

Your comment is very much solicited which may enlighten readers of this blog.

Suman Saran Sinha

A pursuer of logical quest

PHILOSOPHY OF OBSESSION

We all have been obsessed with something, some objects or ideas, aim or purpose or some person or persons at some point of our lives. Obsession is a part of our emotional faculty in the brain which creates an unfettering bond and unflinching attraction towards something we like or care about. It is the height of our emotional feelings which we express more from our heart than our mind. It is an infatuation of the highest degree. There may be no logical reasoning for the outburst of these pituitary feelings which shadows our mind and in turn we lose the capacity of seeing right or wrong. It is also the height of making our feelings indulgent and sometimes oppressive. If the obsession is let loose then chances of being emotionally, or mentally hurt is very high. It may also push us in a deep depression and frustration. Uncontrolled obsession may also result in loss of prestige and mental turpitude. 

Passion and obsession are synonym words but its implied meaning is different. In passion, heart and mind gets involved to certain extent whereas in obsession, it may reach to the point of limitlessness.  The desire to do or get something reaches to the point of fanaticism.  The vision gets blurred in seeing pros and cons of other aspects of life than the things one is obsessed with. Therefore to my mind, obsession is an extreme end of passion. Passion makes a person humane, pulls forward in the life, becomes a driving factor in achieving targets, it has the positive connotations whereas obsession may have the adverse effects and may make a person mentally unstable.

In contrary, obsession with some aim or purpose drives us to become creative, thoughtful, resourceful, and successful. We cannot have the positive synergy to achieve something in our lives unless we are obsessed. It is the driving force which gives us the strength to overcome hurdles. Obsession with positivity may take us to the pinnacle of the aim or purpose. It may help us in fructifying our efforts.

Therefore, I am forced to analyze what this noun means to us. What factors contribute to obsession? Is it necessary to be obsessed with something? How many types of obsession do we see in our daily lives? What are their pitfalls? How does a balanced obsession help us in our lives?

The feeling of obsession may be caused by several factors depending upon the demography, culture, family and social backgrounds that may be classified as under:

1. National Factors:This factor represents a common behaviour amongst majority of natives. For example, in Japan people are obsessed with hygiene as a result they spend a lot of time taking a bath or keeping themselves clean. Russians are obsessed with their national drink “Vodka” as a result they consume more vodka than any other country in the world. Canadians are obsessed with their national sport “Ice Hockey,” whereas Indians are obsessed with their sport “Cricket” or their “filmy idols”. Americans are obsessed with “Football” etc. Because of these obsessions, people are crazy in their habits or interests on national level.

2.    Social Factors: The influence of family, friends and society may also trigger the feeling of obsession, such as smoking, drinking, gambling, etc. We remain obsessed with certain habits till we are able to overcome it. We also get obsessed with certain social traditions such as wearing robes, applying vermillion on our foreheads, or wearing certain dresses or head gears, etc. Hence, people become obsessed with certain social or cultural traditions or practices.

3.  Biological Factors: Obsession towards certain habits or responses may be genetic. For example if parents or grandparents have been obsessed with certain foods, life styles, or sports like hunting, shooting etc then the offspring may also pick up those habits. Extreme craving for biologically induced desire is the best example of this factor.

4.   Religious Factors: In my previous articles, I have quoted the famous Russian economist, Carl Marx who has said that “religion is the opium of man.” Religion is a major cause in moulding our behaviour and thought process. Without any supposed logical reasoning we become obsessed with certain rituals, religious beliefs and practices. Religious obsession changes our perception and the way we think or behave in a society.

5.   Psychological Factors: If people have been deprived of certain things in their childhood then those things may become reasons of obsession in their lives. Some people are also obsessed with materialistic things such as house, car, jewellery or other assets whereas some are obsessed with showing off their new found wealth, power, position or popularity etc.

As discussed above, obsession towards anything to certain extent becomes a driving factor in achieving for things we are obsessed with but beyond that may result in becoming a mental disorder such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is an anxiety disorder caused by the intrusive thoughts, but the anxiety to succeed or be creative or to gain something extraordinary is not considered as OCD. Therefore obsession can be of the following types:

1. Situational: Obsession towards business makes a businessman successful. Likewise obsession towards a profession makes a successful surgeon, lawyer or engineer. In a tough competition for selection of professional studies, students become obsessed with their study. In an Olympic level sports or other competitive sports, sports persons cannot succeed unless they become obsessed with their game or practice to perform exceptionally. Some people are called ‘workaholic’ which is nothing but an obsession towards work.

2.  Mental: Some people get obsessed with certain people or things that their activities or responses become abnormal. In the process they forget social norms or practices as a result they lose honour and respect in society. Their obsession is based on illogical emotional distress to hold on to something which may cause embarrassment or humiliation to their self.

3.   Emotional: The love story of Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra and Antony, Siri and Farhad, Layla and Majnun, are the best examples of emotional obsession which became the examples of love stories. Truthfulness of intense feeling, longing for each other’s company gives rise to this type of obsession. However, these emotional outbursts may be taken unkindly by society as very few people have the capacity to understand and analyze the real cause behind these natural phenomena.

4.    Spiritual: Spiritual obsession lifts a person’s soul to higher levels and takes him or her near to God. This obsession is the purest of its kind and necessary for the seekers of divine power. Extreme devotion of Mira for lord Krishna is the best example of this obsession.

4. Technological:  These days we see several technologically obsessed people around us. They are obsessed with new gadgets like I-Phone or I-Pad or Blackberry or other mobile phones or computing system. They are obsessed so much that they cannot think of their lives without these gadgets. They do not care even if obsession towards these gadgets may endanger their lives in situations like talking and driving a car or talking while crossing a busy street.

Therefore the word obsession in itself is not bad. The quality of obsession depends upon its nature which can be divided into positive obsession or negative obsession. Positive obsession may make a person whereas negative obsession may break a person mentally and emotionally.

In a professional world, obsession towards a particular profession may take professionals to the heights of success, which I think is a type of positive obsession. But chances are also there that such an obsession may blind professionals to look at other aspects of their lives.

I look forward to your comments to further enlighten our mind on the topic

Suman Saran Sinha

A seeker of logical quest