In Defense of Superstition

Superstition does get knocked a lot.  What is the critique?  That it is not rational enough?  Certainly there is a hand-me-down field of superstition that warrants the criticism.  Friday the 13th, for example - how many know the origins of this, why we are instructed to feel ominous because of it?  Many real energetic centers of doom-feeling have lost their power and relevance over time, but hang on symbolically in human being "irrationally" enough (without knowing why) that thus entertaining any particular paranoia regarding invisible connections to dark forces seems dumb.

But what about superstitions that are superrational?

Here I am defining superstition as: the belief in persistent dark or evil forces that seek to progress one's own undoing through some chain of events.  I guess a lot of folks get stuck on the word "belief", but we cannot deny the perpetual presence of chaos, decay, collapse, death that are endemic in time and space.  These are the "dark forces" that any human not otherwise charmed senses from time to time, creating our very understanding of the external reality existing beyond personal control.  But to impart that forces could exert intent or consciousness is of further difficulty in any "defense" here - such is the struggle in describing the invisible, metaphysical realm, and that is the disbelievers' eternal edge.  

Belief itself exists.  Do you believe in belief?  Not necessary.  What we call "Belief" stems from a valuable human power and ability of attention.  That ability forms the cord by why which certain dominating forces (for lack of a better word; often economic in nature) can grab our attention and manipulate us like marionettes.  It is the same cord that the faithless depress in perpetual drunkenness and which the faith-deniers sever, losing their connection to the vast and rich invisible world around us.  O! Invisible All. 

But what if our belief could fashioned scientifically?  With rigorous observation we could watch the patterns of life and death and all in between around us, as Shakespeare.  You would have to exercise your belief first - again, belief being itself established and not requiring "mere belief" to exist, unless you were interested in chasing some rabid fractal down through a realm of mirrors.  Fine for a sunday afternoon, but we have to get to work here.  First you would have to believe in the possibility of some relatively subjective (ie pertaining to you, the ultimate subject) cause-and-effect chain.  I think that science can and absolutely should exist with total acceptance of subjectivity and quit this charade of objectivity, but that is another essay.  The point is that you are an infinitely small viewfinder in the scope of All, so you are only ever going to get little scraps and bits of information that only you, in all your glorious tiny subjectivity and infinite variety, are afforded.  Comparing subjectivities is eventually encouraged, but the first step requires a certain amount of faith in the things that are being revealed to you, in the order in which they happen.  A well developed belief-ability is observing not for the purpose of matching up just any old concepts, but to actually perceive or detect a kind of actuality (truth) and likeness in the natures of coinciding objects, weather, and human circumstance, and potential connection among these things.  Following clues, if you will.  Putting attention to suspicions.

This incoherent map of intent reveals an eventual destination, which is the manifestation of the power of belief, which is "it works".  Any active user of belief can tell you about the presence and function of belief in their life.  Again, in this process, subjective testimony is not to be doubted.  It is actually all we got.  What we need to be rigorous about is To What End.  A human can represent utter subjectivity, but when faced with The Other, needs to be kind of vigilant and ruthless about accurately reading externals - especially in present age, which is just loaded with seduction and facile suggestions that require the borrowed human energetic attention to thrive (often the machinations of mere men).  Truth must be decoded, and then thus the only trustable source is your own code, inasmuch as you are trained to be attentive and demanding your truth.    

Certainly this power-known-as-belief can be harnessed and utilized.  In the realm of superstition, we can have legitimate fears and paranoias.  We can foretell them by antecedents, as if we are reading the sky for weather ... We can observe the old mysteries of black cats and cemeteries with a light mind, feeling the accurate prickle... We can notice objects, symbols, names that tend to creep out at the worst time, keep an eye out for their recurrence, and be cautious in calling their attention.  It is right and natural to bristle, because as a human body you are utterly fallible to the forces of chaos and disaster, and hopefully have retained at least a shred of the instinct to self-preservation.  But we need not be frightened or crippled by fear - we can take an active involvement in our own superstition.  

Develop your own superstition today!