To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one
mystery by another.
To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice.
To disregard the true relation between cause and effect.
To put thought, intention and design back of nature.
To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force
apart from substance, or in substance apart from force.
To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies.
To believe in the supernatural.
The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure is faith
and the dome is a vain hope.
Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.
In nearly every brain is found some cloud of superstition.
A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she
exclaims: "That means company."
Most people will admit that there is no possible connection between
dropping the cloth and the coming of visitors. The falling cloth could
not have put the visit desire in the minds of people not present, and
how could the cloth produce the desire to visit the particular person
who dropped it? There is no possible connection between the dropping of
the cloth and the anticipated effects.
A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he
says: "This is bad luck."
To see the moon over the right or left shoulder, or not to see it, could
not by any possibility affect the moon, neither could it change the
effect or influence of the moon on any earthly thing. Certainly the
left-shoulder glance could in no way affect the nature of things. All
the facts in nature would remain the same as though the glance had been
over the right shoulder. We see no connection between the left-shoulder
glance and any possible evil effects upon the one who saw the moon in
this way.
A girl counts the leaves of a flower, and she says: "One, he comes; two,
he tarries; three, he courts; four, he marries; five, he goes away."
Of course the flower did not grow, and the number of its leaves was not
determined with reference to the courtship or marriage of this girl,
neither could there have been any intelligence that guided her hand
when she selected that particular flower. So, count' ing the seeds in an
apple cannot in any way determine whether the future of an individual is
to be happy or miserable.
Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, signs
and jewels.
Many people regard Friday as an unlucky day--as a bad day to commence a
journey, to marry, to make any investment. The only reason given is that
Friday is an unlucky day.
Starting across the sea on Friday could have no possible effect upon the
winds, or waves, or tides, any more than starting on any other day, and
the only possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky is the assertion
that it is so.
So it is thought by many that it is dangerous for thirteen people to
dine together. Now, if thirteen is a dangerous number, twenty-six ought
to be twice as dangerous, and fifty-two four times as terrible.
It is said that one of the thirteen will die in a year. Now, there is no
possible relation between the number and the digestion of each, between
the number and the individual diseases. If fourteen dine together there
is greater probability, if we take into account only the number, of a
death within the year, than there would be if only thirteen were at the
table.
Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar makes no
difference.
Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never been told.
If the first person who enters a theatre is crosseyed, the audience will
be small and the "run" a failure.
How the peculiarity of the eyes of the first one who enters, changes the
intention of a community, or how the intentions of a community cause
the cross-eyed man to go early, has never been satisfactorily explained.
Between this so-called cause and the so-called effect there is, so far
as we can see, no possible relation.
To wear an opal is bad luck, but rubies bring health. How these stones
affect the future, how they destroy causes and defeat effects, no one
pretends to know.
So, there are thousands of lucky and unlucky tilings, warnings, omens
and prophecies, but all sensible, sane and reasoning human beings know
that every one is an absurd and idiotic superstition.
Let us take another step:
For many centuries it was believed that eclipses of the sun and moon
were prophetic of pestilence or famine, and that comets foretold the
death of kings, or the destruction of nations, the coming of war or
plague. All strange appearances in the heavens--the Northern Lights,
circles about the moon, sun dogs, falling stars--filled our intelligent
ancestors with terror. They fell upon their knees--did their best with
sacrifice and prayer to avoid the threatened disaster. Their faces were
ashen with fear as they closed their eyes and cried to the heavens for
help. The clergy, who were as familiar with God then as the orthodox
preachers are now, knew exactly the meaning of eclipses and sun dogs and
Northern Lights; knew that God's patience was nearly exhausted; that he
was then whetting the sword of his wrath, and that the people could
save themselves only by obeying the priests, by counting their beads and
doubling their subscriptions.
Earthquakes and cyclones filled the coffers of the church. In the midst
of disasters the miser, with trembling hands, opened his purse. In the
gloom of eclipses thieves and robbers divided their booty with God, and
poor, honest, ignorant girls, remembering that they had forgotten to say
a prayer, gave their little earnings to soften the heart of God.
Now we know that all these signs and wonders in the heavens have nothing
to do with the fate of kings, nations or individuals; that they had no
more reference to human beings than to colonies of ants, hives of bees
or the eggs of insects. We now know that the signs and eclipses, the
comets, and the falling stars, would have been just the same if not a
human being had been upon the earth. We know now that eclipses come at
certain times and that their coming can be exactly foretold.
A little while ago the belief was general that there were certain
healing virtues in inanimate things, in the bones of holy men and women,
in the rags that had been tom from the foul clothing of still fouler
saints, in hairs from martyrs, in bits of wood and rusty nails from
the true cross, in the teeth and finger nails of pious men, and in a
thousand other sacred things.
The diseased were cured by kissing a box in which was kept some bone, or
rag, or bit of wood, some holy hairs, provided the kiss was preceded or
followed by a gift--a something for the church.
In some mysterious way the virtue in the bone, or rag, or piece of wood,
crept or flowed from the box, took possession of the sick who had the
necessary faith, and in the name of God drove out the devils who were
the real disease.
This belief in the efficacy of bones or rags and holy hair was born
of another belief--the belief that all diseases were produced by evil
spirits. The insane were supposed to be possessed by devils. Epilepsy
and hysteria were produced by the imps of Satan. In short, every human
affliction was the work of the malicious emissaries of the god of hell.
This belief was almost universal, and even in our time the sacred bones
are believed in by millions of people.
But to-day no intelligent man believes in the existence of devils--no
intelligent man believes that evil spirits cause disease--consequently,
no intelligent person believes that holy bones or rags, sacred hairs or
pieces of wood, can drive disease out, or in any way bring back to the
pallid cheek the rose of health.
Intelligent people now know that the bone of a saint has in it no
greater virtue than the bone of any animal. That a rag from a wandering
beggar is just as good as one from a saint, and that the hair of a horse
will cure disease just as quickly and surely as the hair of a martyr.
We now know that all the sacred relics are religious rubbish; that those
who use them are for the most part dishonest, and that those who rely on
them are almost idiotic.
This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is
superstition, pure and simple.
Our ancestors did not regard these relics as medicine, having a curative
power, but the idea was that evil spirits stood in dread of holy
things--that they fled from the bone of a saint, that they feared a
piece of the true cross, and that when holy water was sprinkled on a man
they immediately left the premises. So, these devils hated and dreaded
the sound of holy bells, the light of sacred tapers, and, above all, the
ever-blessed cross.
In those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used these
relics for bait.