Life Under the Control of Superstition

YOU cross paths with someone while leaving your home. You stub your toe on a rock. A certain type of bird cries in the night. You have a recurring dream. Simple, innocuous events for many. But for certain peoples in West Africa, these could be viewed as signs, omens, or messages from the spirit world. Either good fortune or calamity is deemed in store, depending on the sign and its interpretation.

Superstitions, of course, persist outside of Africa as well. In spite of living under years of official atheism, a surprising number of people in China and in republics of the former Soviet Union still cling to superstitions. In the Western world, many consult their horoscope, dread Friday the 13th, and avoid black cats. Some peoples of the Far North view the northern lights as an omen of war and pestilence. In India, AIDS is being spread by truck drivers who believe that they need to have sexual relations in order to stay cool on hot days. In Japan, tunnel workers believe that it brings bad luck if a woman enters a tunnel before it is finished. Superstitions also flourish in organized sport. One volleyball player even attributed a winning streak to his wearing black socks instead of white ones. The list is endless.

What about you? Do you perhaps have a secret, unexplainable fear? Are you affected by a “belief, half-belief, or practice for which there appears to be no rational substance”? Your answer could be revealing, for that is how one reference work defines the word “superstition.”

A person who lets superstition affect his decisions and daily routine is allowing himself to be dominated by something he does not really understand. Is this wise? Should we submit ourselves to such a nebulous and possibly sinister influence? Is superstition an inconsequential foible or an ominous threat?