Compulsions represent curious phenomena in their own right. Washing one's hands for example probably falls into a realm of socially inculcated compulsion, as opposed to a basic drive like hunger or thirst.
But it is a good compulsion, if one has the available water to do so. It is generally a good practice, that acts to sustain human communities and buttress them from harmful bacteria. But it appears out of a basic fear or discomfort that is taught very early, and becomes internalized as a compulsion. Those nasty germs are out to get ya, so you better wash your hands, and etc.
One may or may not wash one's hands and be perfectly fine, and skip out on the possibility of picking up some harmful contaminant. But statistically, it is ultimately better to wash. One can pick something up somewhere at some time, and then spread it, and so on. So then compulsions do occupy a space between reasoned deliberation and bare feeling. But they seem closer to the former, and proliferate with the growth in strength of the former.
Spiritual compulsions are a different matter, but maybe not entirely different. Catholics cross themselves for example, to protect themselves psychically from unwanted sullying feelings, or to enter a psychically sacred state - a sort of psychic hand-washing if you will. Though this behavior seems strange and superfluous to the secular-minded, it does indeed fulfill a definite function.
On the micro, or individual level, it serves as part of the fabric which perpetuates the faith. It is bound up with an entire body of practices and beliefs which embodies the faith. It is a compulsion which is first socially inculcated and internalized, and then becomes a necessary operation for maintaining one's psychic well-being in the faith, a psychic well-being that acts to convert, whether through force of benefit or just plain force.
Whereas a compulsion like hand-washing can be said to perpetuate humans materially, a compulsion like crossing oneself can perpetuate a certain spiritual tradition or even the body of a deity.
But if it is the case that claims are being made that one's deity is dying or dead, what could be the conditions for such a death? If it is true, perhaps it is meant to be? What does that compulsion continue to serve to do, if not perpetuate the ravenous appetite of the living dead?
