Freeday 13 June 2003

Pic of the day: Road in shadow. Just add black cat.

Superstitions

It was quite a comfortable Friday 13th. The only "unlucky" thing to happen to me was forgetting my dentist appointment. This means I will have to pay for it and still do it at a late time, and pay again. Still, in terms of immediate pain, forgetting was lucky rather than unlucky.

I think we all know that fear of Fridays, the number 13, or the combination of them is pure superstition with no basis in fact. Even so, it persists in society. And there are stories told about horrible things that happened on Friday 13th. Never mind that horrible things happen on Wednesdays too, and every day of the month. Logic is nice, but often there is little connection between it and emotion.

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There are other obvious superstitions too. Like the fear of walking under a ladder. Now you may say that is a reasonable fear: The ladder could crash down on you! But if it has been stable for minutes, or even hours, how likely is it to suddenly fall down right when you are under it? That's about as reasonable as not walking on the pavement because a car could lose control and suddenly run up on the pavement right where you are. Sure, it happens, but not every year on ever continent.

Clearly there is another, unsaid reason for the ladder taboo. Some psychologists say it's because the wall, the ground and the ladder form a triangle, and the triangle is a female sexual symbol. I think those guys have problems. And even were it true, would there not be a huge gender difference in people's fear of walking under ladders? Or are men and women both scared of female sexuality? (Except in university textbooks, of course.) Others again say yes, it is a triangle, but the taboo is because 3 is a holy number, reserved for the divine. (Like the Catholic concept of God as a Trinity.) But if so, would there not be a host of trinitarian taboos? Never be 3 at the table, don't eat 3 loaves of bread in one meal, don't have 3 windows on a wall etc ... all of which would be more obvious Trinity-related than the ladder triangle.

Personally I think the ladder taboo is from the time before trousers were invented. Until late historical times, breeches were mainly used for riding and men wore kilt, toga, tunic or some such dress-like apparel. Having people under you when you worked in a ladder would be distracting. You don't want to distract people who are above you on a ladder. It is bad luck. So people made a habit of avoiding ladders on sight, and here we are.

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The border between superstition and religion is wide, murky, and dotted with bogs and shrubs. One man's superstition is another man's religion. Dedicated atheists consider all religion superstition. Fanatical religious people consider science superstition, though these are luckily few and far between. But Christians generally have little respect for the temples and carved idols of competing religions, while mostly going to large and decorated churches with vivid pictures of their own god or at least saints. To top it all, the Christian holy book, the Bible, says that God does not live in houses built by hands. Even so, many Christians feel better in just such "holy" houses. To the Christian mystic this is pure superstition. Ironically our view agrees with the atheist and the competing religions in this regard.

Since there is never any progress in debating religion (and since I am a believer of sorts myself), let us skip to other superstitions that are as widespread today as religion was in the Middle Ages. Take for instance the belief in the Nation. Most people seem to honestly think that the Nation exists as a separate entity, not just a construct in the imagination of the citizens. Some confused souls are even willing to kill or die for the nation. I can recognize the need to fight for freedom against tyranny, although I think there are times when weapons are not the best way. History shows that weaker cultures are absorbed by stronger, even if they manage to conquer the land.

Nations only exist in our imagination. They are like the rules of a game, highly effective when all follow them, but not real in the way that earth and air and water are real. Birds, bees and bacteria all cheerfully ignore our borders. And yet some people think that anyone born within the same country's borders is more worthy of their money or protection than someone with the same hair color, height or body mass. Not to mention someone with the same interests and the same goals in life!

Another example of modern superstition is the belief in money. Let us do a thought experiment to illustrate this. Let us say that while you sleep, a cosmic being of immense psychic power descends on Earth. Being amused by our illusions, it decides to telepathically reprogram mankind's memories, but by some trick of fate you are immune to its powers. You wake up in the morning and go about your life; but the rest of mankind has forgotten that coins and slips of paper were supposed to have some kind of intrinsic value. Instead, they want payment in beads and seashells. There you are, up the creek without a paddle. And if you insist on the truth, nice men in white coats will come and take you away.

Coins and bills then only have value because we have agreed to use them as a shorthand for goods and services. Yet many people still believe these things have real value. This may seem a harmless short circuit, as the coins still are used in the same way. It is like the scientist who hung a horseshoe over his door, something that was considered to bring good luck. And they asked him: "You who are a renowned scientist, you cannot believe in such superstition?" "No, I don't" he answered, "but who knows, perhaps it brings luck even if you don't believe in it."

Who knows, indeed. Yet to some of us, sight is still better than blindness, no matter that our train stops at the same final station. We may all leave without our luggage, but perhaps we can bring our memories. Who knows?