Nothing certain in Superstition

by meita enjayani

Everybody has their own choice and right to decide what things they believe in. Belief is something that cannot be forced because it is related with individual perception. They may believe that something is true even it is false and cannot be trusted at all, and vice versa. If we talk about belief, the first thing that comes in our mind is religion. Religion is belief that gives us the truth one. It will make us understand the good things and the bad things, what things that can be trusted or not. On the contrary, there is superstition that reform our way of thinking about something. Superstitious people may have false perception about the truth. However, this wrong belief has existed for many generations in our society. Superstition becomes the cultural heritage and unimportant curiosity which grow close to the society. Not only in Indonesia, but also people in all over the world recognize the existence of superstition. Sometimes, superstition is like knowledge of something. This knowledge tells mouth-by-mouth based on experience.
In our society, all people recognize superstitions whether directly or not even we are living in a modern era. It is a belief about something. However, it is different from religion. Hart (paragraph 11) states, "Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance and a false conception of causation". Superstition comes up as the result of ignorance. This ignorance signifies that people tend to belief something because of their false conception. They try to find out the relation of some events in their past life and make a conclusion on this. Therefore, it is not totally right because of the false conception that they have made.
Superstition that comes up from ignorance can give bad effect to the people. As stated by Firehammer (paragraph 17), is that “The danger of superstition is not just ignorance or mistaken beliefs. All ignorance and all mistakes can be dangerous, but as we have already stated, plain ignorance and mistakes are correctable, but superstition never is.” It means that there is no reason for superstitious people to be ignorant. For superstitious people, the ignorance is in purpose. It is different from ignorant people who are not intentionally to do or believe in something because of the lack of information or knowledge.
Believing in superstition gives some effect for human life. If the people really believe in superstition without thinking of the fact, it will be dangerous. Superstition can control their life. One example that may become the popular superstition is superstition about Friday the 13. This day is recognized as the bad day for almost all people all over this world. This superstition may become the terror for superstitious people. Emery (paragraph 5) argue that “people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th — should be picking up their ears about now, buoyed by seeming evidence that the source of their unholy terror may not be so irrational after all” . They think that if they do something it will give them bad luck. They are afraid of facing the fact and prefer to avoid that case. It really controls their behavior and way of life. They will feel afraid and do not want something bad happen to them so that they will not go outside and only stay inside without doing anything.
As a religious person, we have to believe that the future even it is good or bad is related to our conduct. Punkerslut (2003, paragraph 6) argues that “That no effect is ever rendered without a cause, and every cause has its own cause, just as every effect often renders an effect- a long chain of events, one causing the other.” So, something happen in our future is caused by our conduct before. We have to think first before we do something, our choice will affect our future whether good or bad, not other but ourselves. We cannot directly judge or think that it happen because this is the way superstition. However, nobody knows about the future because only God who knows everything. God is the only one who can control and makes everything happen in His name.
Almost all people realize the characteristic of superstition. They know that what they believe in is irrational things. Sometimes, it makes me unable to understand their way of thinking in reason of people still believe in superstition even though they have knew that it is irrational. There are many kinds of superstitions in this world. As the example of superstition before, it is stated that superstitious people believe that Friday the 13 is bad day. At that day, people will avoid making any journey or activities. They only stay at home. Is there any good reason on this? There is no logical reason to explain this. If we open our mind and think ahead facing the reality, we will know the fact that it is not rational. However, this ancient superstition is still recognized by people in this modern life. Superstition becomes the odd things without answer. Besides, it is also modify the fact. In this case, Friday the 13 is recognize as the bad day. In fact, based on my experience, during my lifetime, I never consider that Friday the 13 is the bad day, it may become my good day. I believe that God has created all of days in a week are good, without any exception.
There are many reasons why people believe in superstition. Sometimes, people believe in certain superstition only for pleasant. For example: one kind of superstition named tarot. Tarot card is trusted in predict the future from the order and the type of tarot. When somebody tries to play this, he will be happy knowing the good prediction. Therefore, for his pleasure, he will believe it. Another thing that becomes the reason why people believe in superstition as stated by Somervile ( paragraph 8), “The second form of superstitions implies that a certain action or ritual will bring about desired result.” It is related with their belief that superstition will give something as they expect. As a result, they do something intentionally as superstition so that they get what they expect. For example: we often see many people wearing certain items of clothing when attending the competition. Based on superstition, it will bring good luck for the team who compete. They do this in purpose of giving the spirit to the team to win the competition.
Superstition will never lose or disappear in our life because it has been grow so close in the society. As a person who believes in God, we have to realize the limitation of superstition. We should not be affected by superstition because we have already known that there is nothing certain in this life. The only one whom we believed in is only God. He gives us the best things and he has already made the plan for our way of life. We only have to believe it. We have to be brave in facing the reality even it is bad. We can gain more information so that we can see the reality. After that, we can correct our mistakes by knowing that all about superstitions is uncertain.
References
Emery, D. Why Friday the 13th is unlucky. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from Urban legend Web Site: http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th_4.htm
Firehammer, R. What is superstition. Retrieved March 13, 2010, from the Autonomist Forum Web Site: http://theautonomist.com/aaphp/permanent/wisuper.php
Hart, J. Superstition is not religion. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from www.jameshartforcongress.com/prometheus/chapVII.htm
Punkerslut. (2003, April 9). Superstition. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from Buzzle Web Site: http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-28-2005-84997.asp
Somervile, Carole. Reasons why people believe in superstitions. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from http://www.helium.com/items/1609506-why-do-people-believe-in-superstitionswhat-causes-people-to-be-superstitious?page=2