On Obsession

& Zeal

Model trains: a famous past time of psychologically balanced individuals. Photo by Spanish Coches.

Shall we have a healthy obsession today?

Most of us have a tendency towards mistaking our compulsions, our obsessions, with virtues.

“OMG, I’m so obsessed with that show!”

“Ugh, I’m just obsessed with Asian fusion cuisine lately.”

At its worst, obsession leads one from fixation to mindless frenzied consumption to desolation of soul. Still, it’s hard not to do this because obsessions are sometimes fun and productive.

I became a competent writer by obsessively writing and reading for a number of years. I mean, without obsessives, we wouldn’t have model trains! The downside is that over a long enough timeline, all the attention poured into your obsession(s) didn't go into other areas of your life, like personal finance or dental hygiene. No one wants a mouth full of cavities they can't afford to fix.

It’s hardly original to point out that digital technology lends itself to compulsive behavior: updating profiles, checking emails, sending your mayor anonymous, highly personalized condemnations over Facebook. The temptations are quite literally always at one’s fingertips.

I’ve certainly noticed within myself these past several months a tendency to obsess over this publication, something I'd like to think I wouldn’t continue if I didn’t believe it wasn't benefiting myself and others to some degree.

Thinking about how to combat this within myself, my mind has turned to the word zeal.

Zeal, zealotry, zealots, a lovely little family of those elusive Z-words, have gotten a bad rap. From a Christian perspective, there is, of course, false and true zeal.

I hardly need to give examples. Saint Isaac the Syrian said “He who is moved by false zeal is suffering from a severe illness. O man, you who think to use your zeal against the infirmities of others, you have renounced the health of your own soul!”

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov said that:

If you want to be a true, zealous son of the Orthodox Church, you can do so by the fulfillment of the commandments of the Gospel in regard to your neighbor. Do not dare to convict him. Do not dare to teach him. Do not dare to condemn or reproach him. To correct your neighbor in this way is not an act of faith but of foolish zeal, self-opinion, and pride.

Forgive me; I’m admittedly talking to myself here as someone prone to obsessive behaviors. But I think what these blessed saints point to is correct and helpful in tempering these tendencies towards obsession.

Coming into a relationship with other people, whether online or off, and with all the mess that entails, in a spirit of self-emptying love, is the kind of zealotry that protects oneself from all manner of nastiness. Whether our project involves Substacks, model trains, or Asian fusion cuisine, it has to be in service to something higher—The Most High.

It’s not, and has never been, about you or your obsessions.

Shall we have a healthy zeal today?