Overthinking In Religious People

2 years ago By Yogi Anoop

The Problem Of Overthinking In Religious People

The mind is always full of thoughts. One overthinks to an extent that the mind begins to harm itself. It weaves such a cobweb of possibilities that getting out of it is nearly impossible. To block this continuous process of thoughts, man moves away from the worldly path and turns to religion. Religious preachings can help a person for some time after which it begins to feel like a burden. 

In my observation, religious people are prone to overthink. That is because the worldly man knows that he is doing too much in the act of thinking, that he is getting hurt, he is suffering, but a religious person does not know the excess of the action of thinking, while the action of thinking is the highest in it. He gets problems due to excessive thinking, yet remains unfamiliar with fact, he feels that God is giving sorrow, God is testing him.

I once met a woman who said she used to hear voices. I asked her if she is prone to overthinking to which she answered in negative. Then she told me that she tends to repeat some words before sleeping as prescribed by her guru to come closer to the almighty. In this process, she did not understand that this mindless chanting was causing an unwanted load on the brain and was a starting point of numerous ailments. 

It is also true that it is easy to understand such people but it is very difficult to explain that they have got the disease of thinking. People with the so-called religious nature seem to think that the infinite can be attained by thinking. But then there is so much in physical and mental diseases that their spiritual progress is not possible. Such people never try to peek into the self, rather are eager to attain that infinite being only through fantasies and thoughts. It is easy to understand such people because they talk about attaining God through thoughts. That seeker wants that some infinite being should meet him, come to him.

For example, the merging of a drop in the ocean itself is the attainment of infinity. Words and phrases such as 'acquisition of infinite existence', 'realisation of soul and God,' etc., only create imaginary pictures in the seekers. It seems to them that the merger of a small element into a bigger size is the coming together of the soul with the supreme power. If all this is not imagination, then what is?

Such religious persons have a desire for some form of an object. It is the desire to attain the infinite in some object that inspires them to think. That is, the process of thinking can start only when there is a desire to achieve something.

Book An Appointment