May
5
Why is it that so many of us are still so superstitious? Surely we are all too ‘technologically advanced’ to worry about things like stepping on cracks in the pavement or throwing spilt salt over our shoulder?
Well, it would seem not. Even here in the twenty-first century, many of us will go out of our way to ‘avoid bad luck’. So many people will not put a new pair of shoes on the table or open an umbrella whilst indoors. I can understand the ‘not walking under a ladder’ thing because of the possibility of a falling pot of paint (or a falling painter), but I’m afraid that the rest of it doesn’t have any great meaning for me.
How many of us will still ‘touch wood’ when we are talking about something we hope will/will not happen? It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? But a lot of us still seem to take it all very seriously indeed. Lots of companies will flat out refuse to hold any presentation training or business meetings if it is on Friday the 13th.
Perhaps we need to have a certain amount of superstition in our lives. Some people say that religion is a crutch (and maybe they are right), but superstition could be viewed in exactly the same way, couldn’t it? I am sure that there are plenty of people who would feel very uncomfortable if they were unable to follow their strange little rituals.
I think that religion, superstition and many other things can be a crutch. We latch onto anything that offers a little bit of security to us because it makes us feel more at ease. If we did not have any beliefs in anything then we would end up feeling incredibly cold and alone.