Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Human Obsession

CC Image courtesy of cliff1066 on Flickr


Biographical Note:

Many people have told me many thing of how I am. They say I have a philosophical mind, that I am caring and helpful, that I can catch certain concepts that others wouldn't bother to consider, and that I complicate myself. Now, all of these is true, but there is more to me than what other people see. At home when there ain't no work to be done I jump on my rolling chair and go into a video game spree. It sounds like a sedentary lifestyle, but fear not, for I do sports as well. I'm swimming almost professionally, play defence during soccer games as best as any teenager can, and used to do karate and dodge ball. But their is always some physical imper that has to hold me back. But trust me I still got the skill so come get your pill.


Human Obsession


by Bryan


Saint James Hampton was night employee at the General Services Administration in Washington D.C., were he created multiple structures for “God.” This man was obsessed with the idea that he was holy and that God sent him to build relics to create the Third Heaven, which for him was a heaven for the sky, the planet, and the Almighty. There are many people obsessed with many diverse objects or activities, but whether that obsession makes a person better depends on the way the individual manages his or her obsession. In the case of David Kim, he is obsessed with weapons. He could tell you the name of most firearms and rate each based on traits. This is type of obsession can be examined by how this specific obsession affects the individual, David, as a whole.

In the article of The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation’s Millennium General Assembly the author, J. Hunter Barbour, explains how Saint James Hampton, a janitor at the General Services Administration in Washington, became obsessed with the making of “holy” relics to receive the savior. All of this happened due to Saint James belief that he was shown something divine after seeing a vision when he migrated to the District of Columbia at the age nineteen. It was because of these revelations that he never married and why he created all of his holy work. In this same article it explains how this man would spend hours after work, making masterworks out of foil, paper, plastic, strips of metal, jelly jars, and lots of scrap that he picked up from work or secondhand stores. In the majority of his artworks he would inscribe biblical phrases like “Fear Not” on the top of a wooden throne-like chair. Now, if a man believes they have seen God or any divine being, they will likely fall to their knees and do what the Almighty commands. In the case of Hampton, he himself says that God instructed him to work each night on the “Throne of the Third Heaven.” This is why I belief that Saint James was obsessed with creating the “Throne of the Third Heaven”; because he believed to have holy revelation as he it’s describe in the article, “This is true that the great Moses the giver of the 10th commandment appeared in Washington DC, April 11, 1931.”

A person doesn’t need to be shown something divine to be obsessed with an object or activity. David Kim is an example of this. As his friend, I know the many times he has proved me wrong about a firearms weapon. He sometimes can’t stop talking about a specific weapon once he sees a very intriguing weapon. Once he was able to identify the type of revolver just by looking at an image of it. His great knowledge of weapons, however, comes from his other obsession. First-Person-Shooter (FPS) games. Since each weapon is different, players must know the weapon they use well to know how to use it effectively. He began being obsessed with FPS games. He would play eight to ten hours almost on a daily basis and if interrupted, he would go berserk. This, however, lead to an interest in firearms. So one obsession lead to another.

All of this has lead me to believe that an obsession doesn’t spark out of the nowhere. It must be stimulated by either another action or event that in the mind of the person obsessed. It’s something that provides pleasure. To Saint James, the idea that he was doing work for a divine being definitely brought pleasure in the sense that he believed that he was doing something admirable for someone as revered as God. In the case of David, his obsession with weapons all started by the simple need to know how weapons work so that the stimulation of scoring victory in any FPS would stratify his needs. An obsession is not by definition bad, it can lead to positive. Now the needs that an obsession satisfies and what must be pained to achieve define where his or her obsession is a positive, negative, or neutral one. It’s all in the mind.

24 comments:

  1. How long did it take you to write this essay it seems kind of odd to get this idea out of nowhere weird in sort of a good way don't have much to say but what i just did keep it up

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  3. This is a good essay, and was easy to read. Every sentence was well put together. It does have a peculiar subject, though. Great job!

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  4. hahaha
    David does know all the weapons

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  5. Good job, Brian!!! This essay was very interesting to read and its very clear on its main topic: obsession. I believe that your conclusion was very well built since it basically summarized the whole idea of obsession. I liked the way you compared David with Saint James to see how obsessions can be totally different, and have different concepts. In general, your essay was very informative, and like you said at the end: "It's all in the mind."

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  6. Obsessions are interesting....but sometimes people go WAY over the border and that is ALL that they can think about. (just ask Edie or Amir about soccer obsessions!!!!)

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  7. I agree that obsessions are interesting. It is pretty weird that everybody has obsession on a subject. I wonder where it comes from. After I closely listened to the radio pot cast, I started to think about where everything that I'm thinking comes from... It is really interesting essay to make me to think about human obsessions! :)

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  8. Your insights into what obsession exactly is broadened my perspective. It really can be "positive, negative, or neutral." I could very much relate to the observation that you made that obsession usually spark from sort of root. My discovery of music is very similar to David's exploration of weapons. Awesome essay :)

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  9. I think that you made very clear in this essay the topic of obsession. Many people (including me), might think that obsession is a bad thing, because, if someone is greatly obsessed with a subject, he or she might not talk about any other thing.
    But, in your essay, you made vary clear that obsession might also be a good thing, and you specifically made it clear with the example of the janitor, who's obsession for weapons led him to create a very powerful weapon in the army.
    Good job!!

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  10. Obsessions do seem to make you happy most times and seem to lead off from other obsessions you may have. Good job on an interesting subject!

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  11. Bryan is right about that the way people become obsessed is through another action or event, because for a person to be able to be obsessed with something first they might like it. Lets say a person likes playing online computer games and then that person wants to play something better so that person buys a game, lets say it Halo. That action of buying Halo because of the quality of the game, triggered the mind to like the game and making that person think that he wants to play it; that person eventually becomes obsessed with Halo. The brain is the key to everything you do, and it can either be good or bad.

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  12. This is very interesting. I never really gave much thought of where obsessions came from because it seemed like a boring subject, but you made it sound very interesting.

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  13. Its is very intresting how a person can be obssesed by stuff.
    but i think the janitor is lying that god told him to do the throne of him,because in the bible its says no statues will be made of me
    and those were gods word well no exactly but he said he didnt want anybody to make statues of him

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  14. I wonder if there is a person that doesn't an obsession of some thing. I don't even know my own obsession. It is an interesting concept.

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  15. Great essay, Brian. it was truly fantastic how it all fit together to form a very informative story. I have had experience with obsession. Josh and In Kwang are obsessed with all Apple products. It gets pretty annoying sometimes....

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  16. This reminds me of Saw. Hello David, I want to play a game. So far as what could be loosely called your life, you've been getting involved into too much violence and addiction. Society would call you a weapons addict. I would call you.. unworthy of the life you've been given. Today, I will put you and your so-called obsession to the test. The bomb attached to you will trigger in 75 seconds. Your instincts will tell you to do one thing, But I implore you to do the opposite. Let the game begin. Anyways, great essay!

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  17. AMIR!!!! Seriously!! I think that you have an OBSESSION with Saw now!!! That's all you can talk about! But I imagine that some obsessions appear one day out of the blue, and dissappear from one day to the other. I really hope that happens soon with you, 'cause I'm SOO tired of it!!

    PS. "Do you want to play a game?" tururu

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  18. i really liked the way you told, wrote, or revealed the...world, i guess we could say of obsession to everyone. i myself, know that David is obsessed with FPS games and also Weapons, as i myself, like FPS games. after i came to high school, i started talking with david, and discussing about games, weapons, and etc. i really got to enjoy the talks as i almost never got the chance to talk to someone who liked that much FPS games, even much more than i did! like i said, i really liked the way you revealed to everyone that there is a good side sometimes in obsessions. i myself, having have had gone through obsessions of all sorts, (for example my obsessions on reading books) have learned that there is sometimes good and positive things about obsessions. i really liked this essay, good job and i hope you keep up the good work. :D

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  19. *and Amir...um...i dont mean to interfere or something...but i dont think you really should say that David's life is unworthy and that he is a weapon addict. i mean, he does LOVE weapons, but, even as a joke, it shouldnt be said as...well, as far as i know we cannot decide whether someone's life is unworthy or not...
    *p.s.* like i said, no mean to start some kind of discussion or something, just pointing my point of view on your Saw comment *though it was sort of funny i'll admit...

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  20. Thanx everyone for such kind comments about the essay! But just to add to what each and everyone who has read it. Every one can become and is obsessed with something, be abstract or concrete, imaginary or real. Even I am obsessed to many things. Some to which may be awe and others that wouldn't surprise somebody. But like I said before its all in our own mental control. It's our minds that choose whether we make our obsessions something useful or worthless.

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  21. When You talk about David I keep imagining him and his actions. I can actually see how much his obssessions have brought him to a level of coping movementents of charging weapons. This is an awesome essay because it demonstrates how must of us are obsessed!

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  22. This is a really good essay. It clearly shows that people do have obssesions and I also agree with you, Bryan, that one obssesion might lead to another one. You also put really different obssesions like David´s obssesion with weapons and James´obssesion. They clearly showed that as people are different their obssesions would also be different and that all obssesion begin by a little thing and as they progress they can become big obssesions. You did a good job in this essay by the way and I must agree with Jorge. I also imagined it...

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  23. Nice Bryan, I really liked when you compared David obsession with human Obsession. It was really clear to me how obsess this guy was when you compared it with David, with weapons.

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  24. I forgot about this essay but still dont got much 2 say just its a really good essay and you can see the hard work you put in this paper

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