Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Succumbing to magic
How many other readers and contributors on this rational, atheist, scientifically inclined blog would admit to small moments of magical thinking or behavior? Here's the background: For the past six months, I've been helping my daughter deal with an erratic, bullying ex-boyfriend. This help has involved several trips to district courts for a variety of hearings, all of which, fortunately, have come out in our favor. On the first trip, I wore a suit and, as a gesture of support to her, wore a tie that she had just recently given me. For each subsequent court appearance, whatever I might have been wearing, I have reached for the same tie. Yesterday, as we were preparing for visit #5, and even last month for #4, I realized I had become superstitious about the tie. Each time I had worn it, the court ruled in our favor. I know rationally -- and I said so to myself as I stared at the tie -- that the tie bore no relation to the court outcome, but I did not want to wear a different tie, even as I was more confident about this appearance than any of the others. I must have stood there for a full minute having this debate with myself, feeling foolish for thinking that way, yet not wanting to make the change. And I'll wear it again in August for our next and presumably last hearing, unless he comes up with some other nonsense.
Meanwhile, the suit and tie, along with the briefcase where I have all the papers I've accumulated over the past six months, seem to have their own brand of magic in the courthouse, because the guards at the scanner ask if I'm a lawyer. Of course, in one courthouse, they wave me by simply because I've been there so often, and they recognize the other guy for the lunatic that he is.
So who else succumbs to magical thinking, despite all their perfect rationalism?
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It's understandable . . .
. . . that one would develop an association with a particular item and a powerful event. I think that this is the basis of much of the superstition such as you discuss, Frank. In your case it was a tie she gave you, and you were just showing support for her during a difficult time by wearing it each time. Having an affinity for that tie, which can easily represent your hopes for a good outcome in court for her, just makes sense. No 'magic' necessary, as you recognized yourself.
In this way we all subscribe to this type of magical thinking, I would guess. So long as your rational brain operates to acknowledge that there is no 'power' inherent in the item or act, but only in what it represents to you emotionally, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Jim Downey
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superstition
At my wedding 25+ years ago, we navigated the religious-secular gap by having a rabbi (for her family) conduct a fairly secular ceremony that included the imagery and symbolism of the average Jewish wedding. When he got to the breaking of the glass, he said, "I'm not superstitious, but I don't take chances."
I think I have a similar attitude toward the uttering of the word "Macbeth" in a theatre. The superstition is that saying the word out loud -- and sometimes just performing the play -- brings bad mojo into the room. So theatre people get around that by speaking of "the Scottish play," "Mackers," "Macbee," etc. I was in a performance at the end of last year, and the director had a short article in the program about the superstition and insisted we would call it Macbeth and not worry about superstition. We got through it fine, though I can think of at least one instance during another play in which somebody openly talked about Macbeth in the green room before a performance, and we had a number of mishaps in that performance.
Once these ideas get stuck in your mind -- I guess I should take responsibility and say "my mind" -- it's hard to shake them. So sometimes I will avoid saying Macbeth in a theatre; other times I won't.
This conversation reminds me of one of James Thurber's pieces in Let Your Mind Alone!, where he takes on the positive thinking writers of the 1930s, which all sound remarkably similar to the positive thinking writers of our day. One of these says that, if you're afraid of walking under ladders, you should consciously seek out ladders to walk under, and you'll feel better. Thurber's retort was that, if you keep looking for ladders to walk under, eventually something will happen, and you'll be right back where you started from, afraid of ladders.
In the end, though, I look on superstitions as part of the rich fabric of life, amusing both for what I find myself doing and for the contortions people put themselves into for ridiculous reasons. This fall, we're repeating Macbeth in the ruins of a 19th-century building, which some people swear is haunted. Can't wait to see how that turns out.
Frank Moorman, skeptic
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