Raynor,
I may use the same quote to counter your ideas that Sauron was not whole heartedly looking for the One. It is sufficient also I think to show he has a great fixation for the One.
"But he knows now that it has not perished, that it has been found. So he is seeking it, seeking it, and all his thought is bent on it." -
(Book I, Chapter 2 The Shadow of the Past.) [My bold]
Yes he does not send any great force, other than the Nine, in search for it, but it is still very much part of his desire.
Secondly, and probably should have been primarily, I think you misunderstand what I mean. By his "life" I meant literally, not his peaceful (
indeed lol) plans for domination but his very existence. Should the One be destroyed then he also is undone.
That is the control the One has over him, and was the weakness in its making.