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| Yes | 27% | 3 votes | Total: 11 votes | |
| No | 73% | 8 votes |
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Add to FavoritesMany people have quirks they follow based on superstitions. Before we judge on if people should allow them to influence their lives, we need to understand what a superstition is. The standard thought is that something is superstition if it cannot be proven, is an irrational belief in something based on fear, ignorance, and magic and is followed even when there is evidence to the contrary.
For centuries, it has been one person's religion is another's superstitious nonsense. So let us look at it in that way. If people didn't follow their religion because it was unproven, unseen, and had evidence showing it to be false, then there would be a large part of our world running with out a moral guiding light.
Science questions Christian beliefs on a regular basis. Dinosaurs are not in the bible but are proven in a real touchable way. So are all the followers of the bible-based religions living their lives based of a superstition? In a way yes, but is that bad?
By following their beliefs, they use the Bible as a guiding force to live a good life. Most Christians strive to live up to what their God want them to be. That means they are guide to be better then others in thought and action. This should be looked at as a good thing.
Take it to the Earth based faiths. While they do not have a guidebook like the Bible, they do have traditions that others look at as being superstitious in nature. Their beliefs ask them to not cause harm to others, to remember that everyone has a right to live their life well, and to look out for the Earth. Of course, this should be looked at as a good thing because they too are being led to behaving in a basically good way.
Can some superstitious life styles be over the top or harmful? As with everything, there are some people who just cannot see that they are not being rational in their beliefs but it could be that they are ill. There are people in all lifestyles that do not know how to function in the normal guidelines.
What about the everyday superstitions like not walking under a ladder or that you should always pass on a found penny? Many of those types of superstitions have their roots in common sense. If the ladder falls because you are walking under it and your shoulder knocks into it, you sure would be sorry. And passing money on to someone else is a charitable practice more folks should learn. There are lessons to learn in the old ways, even if takes a bit of searching for the right way to look at it.
It is a person-to-person issue on if they can handle their superstitions, or faith, in a responsible way. Some people hold too much in a false belief that can lea them astray. If you are walking around with a tin foil hat, you may be taking it too far. If you are doing little things like passing on half of won money to the unfortunate, then you may just be doing what the person who started it all thought you should.
Learn more about this author, Tammy Sandeen.
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No
Superstitions are unfounded beliefs often held to help an individual deal with the fear of the unknown. As humans there is so much that we don't know that to have something apparently solid to hold onto gives an anchor to the anxiety of daily living. In the middle ages, in Europe, relics of saints were held to offer safety and salvation in times of trouble. How many have not thrown spilt salt over their shoulder to confuse the devil. We cross our fingers if we tell a lie in the hope we won't be found out.
None of these things gives protection from the vagaries of life in reality. In reality because they are not proven to work but are beliefs which are held onto to bolster courage and a little thought shows they cannot work.
To try to base important decisions which affect the future run of our lives on a vague belief is not wise. It is far better to investigate the small print of something on offer or weigh carefully the outcome on what is known and knowable. That sounds hard nosed but life is not easy and making choices on solid facts rather than an unfounded belief is much safer. There are decisions we have to make blind to some extent, such as the best place for saving money when the financial world isn't even sure of itself. It can be tedious having to collect facts but it is far more sure than a feeling that this might be O.K. Occasionally an intuition can prove good but it's worth thinking about carefully first.
Even when we consider every angle there is always something that crops up because other people have influence which we cannot know about and this can change the outcome. This is life and we have to expect and deal with it. It happens to the best of us.
There are many forms of superstition and we are not always aware of what they are. We grow up with a culture which says this is the way to do something when, if we take a little time to check the facts, what is known, evidence for and against, then we have a much stronger basis for making the right choice and it might go against normal belief.
Fear is the overriding power that superstition seems to allay. Life can be and is at times scary but staying in the open and holding onto what is attributable to the senses and holding onto what courage we have is a far safer method of making decisions which will affect our future lives.
Learn more about this author, Rosemary Redfern.
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