Quick Links: Rethinking Possession, The Human Ghost, Orthodox Practicability
Rethinking Possession
When we use the word “possession,” what surfaces are thoughts of spooky ghosts, crazy exorcisms, and an overall feeling of antiquity. It’s hard to take the word seriously when all that is associated with it are Hollywood movies and jokes aimed at delegitimizing the word.
Maybe that’s part of the world’s agenda. Maybe the word is purposefully delegitimized so you don’t think twice about it. Maybe not. But I want to legitimize the word and shed some light on how it can be used as a powerful spiritual hermeneutic.
We need to first move away from the Hollywood demonization of the word possession. All the word means is “to have, own, or hold something.” I can possess something in my hand. My chair possesses my body when I sit. This word can be used without all the baggage plainly in day to day life.
Let’s use common speech to further my point. Isn’t it common to say, “this has got a hold of me,” when referring to a hobby or a fad that has gripped you? Furthermore, do we not also say that someone “has a hold of us?” I’m sure you can see what I’m leading to here: common phrases are synonymous with the word possession.
And does the same meaning not hold when we simply use the word “possess” in these sentences after removing the word “possess” from the Hollywood context? It seems proper to say that a certain fad has possession over you. Does that fad not exercise some control over you? It seems as though you are letting it dictate your daily life. If a certain musical artist “has got a hold of you” and because of that you are always turning them on whenever there is silence, is it not fair to say there is an element of possession? If a fad has gotten so much a hold over you that it “lives in your head rent free” and then gets embodied by way of spending money, is there not an element of possession in both your internal and external life?
I think the point is established. We removed the word from its spooky context, established how its synonyms are used in common parlance, and then re-established the word with a non-spooky context.
The Human Ghost
Let’s move up another level. Do we not say that people are “beholden” to greed? Are people not “hungry” for power? Are people not “driven” by success? Take a look at the words we use in everyday speech! “Beholden” quite literally means “be held by”; “hungry” signifies an internal appetite for something; and “driven” quite literally is communicating that something other than self has assumed the steering wheel of a person. These are all synonyms for possession, we are just afraid to use the word!
To drive the point home further, what about when we say, “he’s in good spirits.” Or, “she’s a gentle spirit.” And also, “he’s in the Christmas spirit,” or “has the spirit of a warrior.” It would seem that our daily diction already informs us of the concept of possession. Dealing with the crux of the issue, we will also sometimes plainly say that “he is possessed by this idea.” But when we use the word in this sort of a sentence, we seem to signal to each other that we use this word metaphorically; we want to say possession, but we don’t want to own the spiritual consequences.
From all that has been said, it seems natural to say that someone can be possessed by things. Why are we delegitimizing a word that accurately fits the description? Is it because we are afraid to admit that an emotion, by itself, is incapable of possession? I find that this question is never asked in the contemporary day. What’s interesting is that in the denial of an emotion’s power to possess, that is, if we say that an emotion in it of itself is incapable of possession, then it paradoxically seems we sign up for a whole host of spiritual claims that must be accounted for. That’s scary.
To elucidate upon what I mean, we can ask ourselves, “how can you be possessed by an emotion?” That sentiment, when taken a closer look at, makes no sense. An emotion is something felt. Are you not in control of acting on your emotions? Or, if you act on your emotions because they (entity) were so strong (description of entity) in a given moment, perhaps it makes more sense to say that you are indeed possessed by that entity; for if you are not in possession of it, it must be in possession of you. That ghost inside of you that is in control lost a negotiation to an emotion for bodily expression, and maybe it makes more sense to think of that emotion as a spirit with an ability to possess, and that it is vying for power in the form of embodiment.
Did you not lose the internal negotiation to something, and as a result you acted out? Speaking of the term “acted out,” what are you acting out of? Acting out of character? Indeed, it seems that the thing driving you in that moment is not yourself, but something that has got a hold of you.
Orthodox Practicability
I think the takeaway from what has been said is that we can legitimately think of ourselves as giving possession of our bodies over to things, and that this happens regularly. The Orthodox practicability in this is that we can perform a sort of “brass tacks” analysis on ourselves when we are reflecting on our day. At the end of the day, when we are praying to Christ, we can ask ourselves what we embodied at given moments. “Was something pride? Was something gluttony? What was being embodied in an argument? Was something lust?” And on the flip side, “Was I embodying humility? Was I embodying love? Was I embodying patience?” This prompt allows us to extract what exactly we think we were embodying, and in doing so, we will be able to analyze if what we embodied was good merely by glancing upon our answer. If we embodied pride, we don’t need to dissect further because we have identified an issue we must work on and repent for. The same goes for the other passions; and a similar analysis can be done in a positive manner when reflecting upon potential virtues being embodied. In this way, we can find both what to repent for and what to thank God for.
This offers a way we can look at our life and reflect upon what is controlling us daily. It should be noted that we don’t have to confine our conversation merely to vice, but we can expand the range of our conversation to include music, entertainment, and conversation topics. We can discern what attachments we have and how they dictate our actions. We can also discern which are worth holding on to.
Furthermore, what practicability I am offering is not to be used to incite anxiety. I am not saying an exorcism is required after every transgression. I am not saying we are actively demon possessed at all times. I am saying that we need to be careful of what we embody. We can use this idea of possession to find out what we have attachments to, and to find out if those attachments are healthy or unhealthy when taken within the context of the Orthodox Christian spiritual life.
As an added note, I think the disuse of “possession” came due to secularization, and a motivation behind writing this article is that of re-enchanting our lives. There are times wherein “possession” is overused or perverted, but I don’t believe in throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We can certaintly use the word in our lives in a measured, reasonable, and stable way, and I hope that this essay contributes to that.
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