Thinking Through Religions 2 - Essay Example

What are Superstitions? According to Bergen and Newell (3), the quality in which superstition consists is seen to commonly be obscured. Man is usually seen to result to the use of superstitions in the event that he happens to encounter any particularly difficult problem. Successfully defining superstition is found to essentially be obscured by the various definitions of superstitions that are found in English dictionaries. These have been seen to define superstition as essentially being a disease that primarily depends on an excess of religious sentiment. The affected person is often seen to frequently have an unreasonable level of credulity. Superstitions were employed in ancient times so as to thwart evil by using a number of rituals that were thought to bring good luck (Superstitions, 2000). Cunningham and Kelsay (76), define rituals as essentially being a series of repeated stylized gestures or ceremonial acts that are used for some certain given specific occasions. Human life is seen to be filled with quite a number of these gestures ranging from the simple custom of shaking hands to some gestures such as standing so as to shake someone’s hand. The rituals have progressively become so familiar that they are now frequently overlooked and their importance is only highlighted in the event that one fails to observe them, an example of which might include someone refusing to shake another person’s hand. It is these refusals and failures that cause us to become acutely aware of the relative importance of these rituals that would otherwise be severely obscured by the mundane ordinariness of customary rituals. Superstitions and rituals are seen to have an intrinsic relationship as superstitions require an individual to perform some certain rituals so as to encourage or avoid an occurrence. One of the rituals that I often perform that is closely linked to superstition is to essentially avoid black cats from crossing my path. In the event that a black cat happens to cross my path, my normal ritual is to try and walk around the area crossed by the cat or in some instances use a different route. The superstitious belief that is tied in with this ritual is that black cats tend to cause bad luck in the event that they cross one’s path. Why are Human Beings Superstitious? It can generally be observed that often at times, after having encountered seemingly knotty problems, man tends to try and explain away or avoid the given situation by using superstitions. By inventing various superstitious fabrications, man is able to effectively understand and explain a number of mysteries. It is often always as a last resort that man will opt to eventually turn to himself to provide an explanation and even so, he does not turn to his true self but instead turns to some foreign particle or blemish that absolves him and causes him to not be responsible (Berry 228-229). One of the more frequently used scape goats in this respect is the concept of original sin that had been invented by the ancients. (Berry 230) argues that the chief virtue of this theory is that it effectively heaps all the blame on the serpent, an animal that man has never really had much use for. Man is also perceived to be superstitious as a result of his relatively conservative nature that causes him to obstinately try to hold on to a number of old trinkets, ideas and customs even after he has learned better and the original purpose of these has been forgotten. Although man has made a number of developments in science and knowledge, civilized life to him is seen to still be largely precarious, insecure and uncertain and hence man has opted to result to superstition to tackle these challenges. Why Can Superstitions be Dangerous The adverse effects of superstition can result in fear, suspicions, a general reduction in the quality of life and even death as seen in an incident related by Berry (11). In this incident, in the year 1656, a young woman named Eunice Goody was suspected by her fellow New Hampshire town’s people of having been a witch. After having been found guilty of essentially having an evil “familiarity with the devil” (Berry 11), the young woman was subsequently jailed for a time period of 10 years and after her release, Cole returned to New Hampshire and had to live for the rest of her seemingly unhappy life bearing the intense weight of the suspicions and fears that were daily being heaped on her by her neighbors. Upon her death, Cole was denied a Christian burial by the towns peopleand her body was instead mounted with a horse shoe and pierced with a spike after which, it was subsequently dumped into the river. It was only after two hundred and eighty-two years had passed that her name was cleared by the towns people who went on to pick the dirt from her riverside grave and give it a seemingly proper burial in the town’s main cemetery. The Relationship between a Superstition and a Belief The relationship that exists between belief and superstition is such that superstitions are seen to essentially be based upon a set of beliefs. According to (Berry 243), these beliefs are based on the proposition that the world is basically in the hands of a seemingly incalculable horde of ghosts, gods, imps, devils, nymphs, angels, goblins and demigods. These creatures vary and are seen to be bad, indifferent or good. Superstition is based on attempting to find a way of dealing with the beliefs in these creatures. It is believed that these creatures communicate by using a number of omens such as cats, salt and comets as messengers. There exists a superstition belief that one can fundamentally be able to control these creatures by various methods such as using the right words, not spilling salt, stepping on cracks or even by avoiding sitting at a table with thirteen. A person can be Superstitious but not believe It is found that persons can at times be superstitious without their believing, this is exemplified by some individuals ensuring that their babies are baptized even though they do not observe the practices of a religious system that believes in the concept of there being an original sin that has caused the young child to be born sinful (Berry 238). Comparison of a Secular Superstition with that of a Religious Superstation as relating to belief One of the common superstitions that is found to be relatively prevalent in both religious and secular circles is that of bad luck. In religion, bad luck is often seen to primarily be blamed on the devil or a number of evil gods as it is the belief that they are singularly responsible for all that ails the world. However, religious people can appeal to the good gods for good luck. Contrary to this, the secular belief of bad luck is based on the premise that there happens to be a number of creatures such as imps, goblins and ghosts that are the main cause of bad luck. These can sometimes be appeased and caused to bring about good luck to a person by observing a number of superstitious rituals. The Rituals of the Mistassini Cree conducted to influence the spirits before a Hunt for Food The Mistassini Cree are essentially a gathering and trapping/hunting people who are mostly found in the region north of Montreal. The Mistassini Cree have been living in this region for centuries while managing to retain their way of life customs and rituals. They also tend to observe a number of rituals designed to try and influence the animal spirits before the community embarks on a hunt for food. One of the Mistassini Cree’s commonly observed spirit influencing rituals that is practiced before the community embarks on a hunt for food is that the Mistassini Cree make a number of various offerings to the spirits of the winds. This is done so as to attempt to influence the spirit of the weather. The Mistassini also use a steam tent to purify themselves and strengthen their communication with both the helping and the communication spirits. The Mistassini then seek the divination services of the older men to determine the location and the time the hunt should be conducted. The Mistassini also use a number of charms to communicate and appease the animal spirits. The Mistassini wear clean clothes and decorations and women are tasked with keeping the camp particularly clean during the actual hunt. In hunting a bear, the men address the bear before killing it. When the Mistassini move from one campsite to another, they usually ensure that they dispose animal remains such as bones in a responsible way, this camp cleaning ritual is based on the belief that animal spirits might find something offensive and leave the area (Kinsley 7-21). Review of the Superstitious Beliefs and Ritual Activities The number of superstitious beliefs and rituals is found to be extremely large and ranges from carrying coins, feathers and rabbit feet to attract good luck to the use of a crossed tree branch by a water witch to locate underground water (Stewart par 1). However, the most widely prevalent superstitious belief in modern day society is the belief in astrology and horoscopes. According to (Berry 15), once when a newspaper failed to print the horoscopes feature, it received five hundred requests for the feature on the following day. Actresses and actors are seen to have a number of superstitious beliefs such as not allowing peacocks, yellow colored objects an amusingly, cross-eyed individuals from accessing the backstage (Steppenwolf par 9). Some of the superstitions in sports involve ball players believing that the rubbing of a Black American bell hops woolly hair would result in good luck but perhaps the most interesting was that of that of George Stallings who was at one time the Boston Braves manager. Stallings believed that he was not supposed to change his position in the slightest manner in the event that his team happened to be rallying. This would sometimes result in causing him to maintain uncomfortable and often ridiculous positions for relatively long hours. Edward Ray, who was at one time the Great Britain open champion, ensured that he never played any single hole unless he had his faithful black pipe firmly stuck between his teeth (Berry 19-20). Criteria for Judging an Individual’s Superstitious Practices There are a large number of various superstitions and rituals conducted and while some of them might be relatively harmless and almost comical, some of them are nevertheless quite harmful. The main judging criteria that should be used to determine if an individual’s superstitious beliefs are essentially unhealthy or healthy should be that these beliefs should not encourage the causing of any harm on the individual or other persons. If a belief is seen to cause harm to anyone, then the superstition can then be judged to be harmful. Moving into a new house, I opted to use the principles of Feng Shui, to design and arrange the layout of my new home. This was primarily because I happen to believe in the principles of Feng Shui that is essentially a science and art that was developed in China some over 3000 years ago. Feng Shui caused me to be aware of the need for space clearing. In selecting the home, I constantly enquired about the previous owners from the property agent as I was acutely aware that the energy of the previous events that might have happened in the new home while it was still occupied by the previous owner would most likely still be lingering inside the house and might potentially influence my own energy. Using Feng Shui, I created a particularly orderly space having absolutely no clatter and hence ensured that I had the best foundation for my new home (Tchi par 1-3). Works Cited "Rituals." History's Mysteries. History Channel. 13, June, 2000. Television. “Feng Shui Tips for Moving into A New Home.” Feng Shui. Tchi, Rodika. 26 March, 2013. Web. 14 June. 2013. “Theatre Superstitions.” Watch & Listen. Steppenwolf. 2004. Web. 14 June. 2013. “Water Witching.” Bittersweet. Stewart Melinda.. 1981. Web. 14 June. 2013. Bergen, Fanny and William Newell. Current Superstitions collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk. Teddington, Middlesex Echo Library, 2007. Print. Berry, Brewton. You and Your Superstitions. Kessinger Publishing, 2006. Print. Cunningham, Lawrence and John Kelsay. The Sacred Quest: An Invitation to the Study of Religion. Prentice Hall PTR, 2009. Print. Kinsley, David. Ecology and Religion: Ecological Spirituality in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Prentice Hall Books, 1995. Print. Read More