Superstitions that are still with us....Yours?

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by scheherazade, Jun 12, 2014.

  1. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    My mother recently cancelled a trip she had planned because she had failed to look at the calendar and did not want to travel on a Friday 13th.

    I had no idea that my mother was that superstitious. Just shows what can slip by, even in day to day observations.

    That caused me to ponder upon how many otherwise rational people may also observe certain superstitions, some they may not even be cognizant of, and whether or not they would be willing to share them in this thread. Anyways, I thought it might be an interesting and fun topic to explore and I might even learn of some customs that I have not yet encountered. To start, here is the definition of ...

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superstition
     
  2. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    I don't mean to diminish your look at little superstitions yet I must say we still have plenty of overt superstition, including most religion. After the latest eclipse, I had to endure several people talking about it being a warning of bad things to come.
     
  4. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    Do you consider religion to be the origin of some superstitions? Do you think that religion may also perpetrate some superstitious beliefs?

    Note that this is not meant to be a thread on religion save to examine if same may be a contributing factor in the longevity of some of the more common and persistent superstitions.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  6. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. sculptor Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,466
    knock on wood

    don't jinx it

    toss a little salt over your shoulder

    gesundheit
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2014
  8. Rav Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,422
    There's still a whisper of superstition floating around in my mind occasionally, but some years ago I just started completely rejecting the significance of random bad feelings and supposedly unlucky activities and simply started living life free of such pointless constraints.

    Numbers in particular are absurd since one culture's unlucky is another's lucky.

    Superstition can actually be oppressive and emotionally unhealthy in my opinion.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2014
  9. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
  10. gmilam Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,522
    Break a leg!

    While I don't really believe it is "bad luck" to wish a performer "good luck" before a show, I still catch myself telling them to "break a leg". And I cringe just a little whenever someone wishes me "good luck".
     
  11. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    Heard of them all and I still say 'Bless you!' when someone sneezes, more as in, "I hope you don't die of that and for mercy's sake, don't give it to me!"

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  12. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    You touch on a very good point. Superstitions, even when we logically refute them, can sometimes still have an adverse emotional effect upon us when we repress our response to them. I despise those chain letters that some are fond of sharing, particularly when they hint at dire consequences if you do not co-operate by forwarding to an exponential number of other people. Even though I do not believe in a malignant entity of any nature (beyond some unfortunate humans) I still feel a twinge when I receive one and delete it.

    I consider myself a moderately intelligent and logical person, yet there is still a small flutter of angst.

    What's that all about? My upbringing?

    Considering that I was not aware that my mother was superstitious enough to cancel travel plans involving Friday 13th, I may have absorbed more subliminal content than I realize.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  13. Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,784
    In Defense of Superstition

    Another law of magic is “everything happens for a reason” — there is no such thing as randomness or happenstance. This is so-called teleological reasoning, which assumes intentions and goals behind even evidently purposeless entities like hurricanes. As social creatures, we may be biologically tuned to seek evidence of intentionality in the world, so that we can combat or collaborate with whoever did what’s been done. When lacking a visible author, we end up crediting an invisible one — God, karma, destiny, whatever.


    It was difficult for me to let go of that one.

    And now, "There’s a reason why things happen but things do not happen for a reason."
     
  14. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Good response cosmic.

    [video=youtube_share;V0-0f8q8Jlc]http://youtu.be/V0-0f8q8Jlc[/video]
     
  15. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    I have friends who are performers, too, and I cringe at the thought that they may actually break a leg sometime and I would be horrified if it occurred after me giving them the traditional salutation.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  16. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    Thank you for the link to the article.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    I am a walking coincidence, lol. Logically, I understand that we are creatures of pattern recognition and that we strive to make sense of patterns as one aspect of learning. Still, the trail of synchronicity that comprises my life-story is such that even others look at me askance when I tell some of my experiences even in the most brief and impersonal way.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    http://youtu.be/V0-0f8q8Jlc
     
  17. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,353
    It's bad luck to pour water into acid. I avoid it at every opportunity. :thumbsup:
     
  18. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,798
    Yes, but you do realize that you are the thirteenth response to this thread? Don't let the post number fool you, lol...

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  19. Rav Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,422
    So I'm standing in line at a local supermarket behind this woman I had accidentally (and literally) bumped into just a few minutes earlier (it wasn't anything dramatic, just one of those little scuffs that we both apologized for). We just happened to end up going through the same checkout. After paying for my items I proceeded to a nearby elevator because I decided that I couldn't be bothered taking the stairs. When I arrived, there she was again, and we waited for the elevator together.

    By this stage I was already feeling a tiny bit uneasy about this string of coincidences and what might be occurring to her as a result, but I quickly dismissed the silliness of such a concern. That was until it turned out that not only were we both headed to the 6th level (roof) of the car park, upon exiting the elevator we were, again, both headed in the same direction. What's worse, I was actually following her because I had allowed her to exit before me in proper old-school gentlemanly fashion. At this point I decided unlock my car long before I otherwise would have because I knew that the resulting flash of my indicator lights and the sound of the central locking mechanism would alert her to the fact that I was indeed headed to a parked vehicle and not actually following her for any nefarious purpose.

    Funnily enough however a further coincidence probably put her mind at ease more than anything else: her car was parked directly next to mine. It would have been hard to plan that I think, if a plan was indeed in motion, so I relaxed a bit about how she might be feeling and just sort of chuckled at the unlikeliness of it all. I thought about cracking some sort of joke, but didn't. As it turned out she drove off before me, but people hardly worry about being followed out of a car park with only one exit so that was no big deal. But it didn't end there because I shit you not, I ended up continuing to follow her through a set of lights, two roundabouts, and a right turn. And I would have been following her into a left turn (and who knows for how much longer) if I hadn't decided to take an alternate route home just to put an end to it.

    I think most people would be able to relate to stories like this, and I can recount additional similar experiences myself, but this one stands out as a particularly striking example to me. But what does it all mean?

    In my humble opinion? Nothing

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Either that, or we were supposed to get together and I missed my chance. Perhaps I should have cracked that joke after all...
     
  20. Motor Daddy Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,425
    I know where you're coming from. I'm not superstitious, but when common superstitious subjects present themselves, even though I know it's bull, there's that "what if." It seems as though the "what if" question is always there to nag, when it has no business there in the first place.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    The one that gets me is the clock. I know it's more me being aware of it than anything, but it seems like every time I look at the clock it reads 3:33. I could be totally asleep, and happen to wake up, and when I look at the clock it reads 3:33.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Just sayin'
     
  21. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,353
    Have you thought of changing the battery, Mo-dad?

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  22. Motor Daddy Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,425
    I never thought of that.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    It's not just the one clock, it's all clocks. I went into the kitchen this AM and turned on the light, and went to get a glass of water. I looked at the coffee maker and it read 3:33. If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  23. gmilam Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,522
    A friend of mine did break a toe on stage once. She hung in there like a trooper and finished that evening's show. They worked a broken toe and crutches into the play for the rest of the run.
     

Share This Page