Scientists have unraveled the reason for the persistence of superstitions
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Just like hundreds of years ago, people continue to follow a code of conditional rules, following which they can supposedly protect themselves from trouble. Most of us are afraid to say hello across the threshold, so as not to quarrel with the visitor, or to whistle in the room, so as not to transfer money. We spit over our left shoulder and grab a button if a black cat crosses the road. And we don’t even realize how deeply these superstitions sit in us. So why are prejudices so persistent?
Celebrity Quirks
They say that the head of RAO UES, Anatoly Chubais, pinned a pin on the back of his jacket to avoid the evil eye. Although he believes that black cats bring good luck, and Friday the thirteenth is the happiest day. Chubais became superstitious in Tibet after a local lama gave him a talisman on his hand, which he has not taken off since then.
Legends are made about the signs of athletes. Some people don’t shave, others don’t change their socks so as not to spoil their luck. It is also known that many of them are very sensitive to the numbers on their jerseys, believing that luck depends on this. The case of Pavel Bure is a clear example. In CSKA, and then in Vancouver, Pavel played number 10. And fortune favored the player. However, everything changed overnight as soon as Pavel decided to change his number. Arriving at the All Stars Game, he discovered that number 10 was occupied. Following the example of Sergei Fedorov (91) and Alexander Mogilny (89), whose numbers indicate the dates of their move to the NHL, Pavel took number 96, but, as it turned out, in vain. The number was not lucky, and the player began to be plagued by injuries. To break the chain of failures, Bure returned to his previous “ten”.
The best football goalkeeper, the legendary Lev Yashin, took to the field for many years wearing the famous cap, which brought him good luck and was his talisman. But one day, before a very important match of the USSR championship in Luzhniki with fellow Spartak players, the goalkeeper, opening his sports bag in the locker room, discovered that he had left his cap at the country base. The team administrator was urgently dispatched to look after her. However, by the time the talisman was delivered, Yashin's team lost - 0:2.
And my coach always puts on what he claims is a lucky T-shirt,” says boxer Vitali Klitschko. - But one day it happened that before the fight he forgot his T-shirt in the hotel room. Dropping everything, he rushed headlong out of the locker room. And when after the fight I asked: “What happened?” - he replied: “Without a T-shirt, I couldn’t second you.”
The famous wrestler, three-time Olympic champion Alexander Karelin, also had his own signs. In the warm-up room before entering the final fight, he never looked in the direction of his opponent.
Confusion of facts
People hold on to such ideas only because life gives far from complete, sometimes dubious information, says psychoanalyst, professor Valery Dorofeev, who has been studying the history of mysticism and occultism for many years. - Attempting to independently understand the confusion of facts encourages you to believe in something that actually does not exist. This is how a person works: he prefers a cause-and-effect relationship between events. And prejudices bring a certain meaning to the chaos of the surrounding reality. He wants to believe that there is a relationship between, for example, a black cat crossing the road and the misfortune that happened to him. Therefore, we tend to believe what we want to believe.
Many scientists do not see anything bad in omens. Thus, the French psychiatrist Dr. Francois Laborde argues that “prejudice provides a person with a sense of power over events and the appearance of being able to control them.” In his opinion, this is a type of cheap and easily accessible sedative.
From the point of view of psychiatry, superstition allows each of us to ease internal tension, explains Valery Dorofeev. - Essentially, it has a placebo effect, that is, an imaginary medicine. In psychoanalysis, this way of acting is called magical thinking: to feel better, it is often enough to knock on unpainted wood or sit “in front of the path.” Then we will feel calmer, not expecting trouble. Balzac also wrote that “a superstitious person cannot be completely unhappy, for superstition is worth hope.”
Sacrifices of Faith
The fact that superstitions play a psychotherapeutic role has been shown by research by sociologists from the Norwegian Center for Mental Health. They surveyed about a thousand students and found out that those who partially believed in omens (32 percent) passed exams more successfully than those who did not believe in them at all (23 percent), and significantly more successful than those who trusted them unconditionally (45 percent). ).
It turned out that when going to the exam, the “non-believing” students were more nervous than others. An exam, no matter how well you prepare, is always a lottery to a certain extent. These “extra nerves” let them down: the students could not concentrate, collect themselves, and answered worse than they could. Excessive “believers” became victims of their faith. Firstly, they prepared worse, relying on talismans. And, secondly, any discrepancy between the actual and the expected unsettled them. And those students who reinforced their good preparation with a couple of lucky signs came to the exam calm, believing in their luck, and calmly answered the questions.
The toss is lying
In general, superstitions practically do not help. This was proven by the experiments of the famous English professor Richard Weisman. He asked fifty people to wear “charmed” talismans around their necks for a month, and to keep things in the house that, in their opinion, brought good luck. After that, he played a toss with each of them - throwing a coin up in order to catch it with the side on which the wish was made. None of the participants' luck increased by one percent. In another experiment, a scientist suddenly, in front of subjects who were going to work or to college, released black and white cats that crossed their path. Then the professor carefully analyzed the subjects' stories about what happened in their lives within a few days after meeting the cat. It turned out that no terrible misfortunes (in the case of the black cat) or great happiness (in the case of the white cat) occurred. In the same way, a huge number of happy and unlucky omens were tested. And it all came down to one thing: superstitions did not work.
SOCIAL POLL
Girls believe everything
A sociological study conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) in December last year showed that the most gullible were women aged 18-29 years. About 23 percent of them believe in everything possible. But 20 percent of men don’t believe in anything at all. With age, the percentage of “non-believers” increases. After 50 years, every fourth man and every tenth woman no longer believes anything.
THE MOST COMMON SUPERSTITIONS
You cannot take anything out of the house after sunset. Do not brush garbage off the table with your hand - this means lack of money. Cutting your own hair means poverty. Washing your apartment in the evening means washing away happiness from your home. You cannot wash the floors starting from the threshold. Before leaving the house, you cannot sew anything up, drop your keys and return - there will be no way. Since the threshold is considered the protection of the house, nothing can be given or taken through it. Do not pick up a found button from the floor, do not exchange glasses during a feast, do not leave empty bottles on the table, and do not leave knives on the table at night. Wearing a dress inside out means being beaten, and wearing it backwards means getting acquainted. Keeping peacock feathers or a bouquet of reeds in the house means the collapse of the family.
Where does everything come from?
"Knock on Wood"
We say this phrase when something important happens in our life and we need luck. The belief in the magical power of trees originated with the ancient Egyptians. And the ancient Greeks “settled” the gods in trees. And this meant that by touching the tree, one could touch the inhabitants of Olympus. That is, ask them for protection.
The mirror broke
The most enduring superstition: if a mirror breaks, it will be bad luck. And the “roots” of this prejudice are absurd. The first glass mirrors began to be made in the 15th century in Venice, and, naturally, they were very expensive then. In order to force the servants to handle an expensive item with care, the rich owners came up with this sign: whoever breaks a mirror will face seven years of grief.
Baker's dozen
The number 13 is considered unlucky throughout the world. In France, if a 13th employee appears in a company, the owner hires another one. This custom was called the “profession of the 14th guest.” In the USA, some hotels do not have a 13th floor, and those apartments that have this number are rented for half the price.
The combination of this figure with Friday generally threatens serious shocks. An English scientist, Dr. Scanlon from the British Ministry of Health, writes in the reputable British Medical Journal: “Friday, falling on the 13th, really cannot be considered an ordinary day. It has been found that 50 percent more patients are admitted to hospitals in London on this day than the weekly average. It is also known - and this is confirmed by police statistics: on Friday the 13th many people prefer not to use a car. Maybe it's pure chance or a statistical trick. But, most likely, the point here is not in the magic number, but in the people themselves, who set themselves up for anxiety, which is expressed in critical situations and troubles.”
Where did this fear of the number 13 come from? According to the Scandinavian version, which appeared even before the advent of Christianity, twelve happy gods were quietly having a peaceful meal in the palace of the god Odin, when the 13th suddenly appeared - a certain Loki. It was he who started the quarrel, which turned into a brawl, as a result of which everyone’s beloved god Balder died. And according to the Christian version, the belief in the fatality of this figure is explained by the Last Supper - the last meal of Jesus with the 12 apostles: in a society of 13 people, someone is destined to die.
Right hand - happy
They spit over the left shoulder so as not to jinx it, because it is behind the left shoulder that the invisible grinning devil is supposedly watching over us. And the guardian angel stands behind the person on the right side. This superstition has been confirmed by science, which has proven that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for logical thinking and therefore controls the right hand. This is where the “rules” were born: don’t give anything to anyone with your left hand - to ill health, and if your left palm itches - to a loss, and the right - to profit.
To scatter the salt
This offense was considered a serious misfortune for a very simple reason. Before the advent of refrigerators, in order to protect raw foods from spoilage, they were salted. Therefore, spilling salt meant that you would not salt your food supplies, you would find yourself without food and you would die.
HOW TO GET WEALTH?
You cannot lend money that you are saving for a big purchase. You can’t give money on Monday - you’ll have expenses all week, but if you sneeze on Monday, it’s a gift to yourself. Housewives keep brooms in the house with the whisks facing up to prevent money from being swept away. You need to take money with your right hand and give it with your left. Banknotes should not be stored crumpled. They need to be recalculated periodically.
BY THE WAY
Star prejudices
Alla PUGACHEVA does not go on stage without a talisman around her neck - a golden cross. One day, the Prima Donna forgot it at home and because of this delayed the concert - she was waiting for the treasured security sign to be delivered.
Actress Selma HAYEK (films “From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Four Rooms”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) always crosses the threshold of each room with the right foot - since childhood she believes that this is good luck. Crossing the threshold with your left foot is therefore unlucky.
Comedian Robin WILLIAMS can't stand the sight of spilled salt. Even if he is in a restaurant, he must quickly grab a pinch of salt and throw it over his left shoulder. Rumor has it that restaurant owners and managers forgive this.
WOODY ALLEN sometimes wears things inside out on purpose. And if something is put on incorrectly by accident, he will never change it, because, in his opinion, this brings a lot of trouble.
Marlon BRANDO believed in the good fortune of those who owned ostrich eggs, and therefore sent them to his friends who were beset by misfortune. According to African beliefs, ostrich eggs can change circumstances for the better.
And the most superstitious in Hollywood is Martin SCORSESE. He is afraid of the evil eye, evil spirits and demons and tries to avoid the number 11. Nothing can force him to stay in the hotel in the 11th room. And if the only free space in the parking lot is the eleventh, then Martin cancels all his plans and turns back.
OPINION OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHY
Father Artemy:
Those who adhere to superstitions sin grievously against the first commandment of God: they are rejected as the inventions of demons. Superstition or vain faith is not based on anything and is unworthy of true Christians. The Holy Fathers often warned against omens, when omens about happy or unhappy circumstances in our lives are derived from the most unimportant cases.
What signs or rituals do you believe in? Do they help you live?
A sign is an incident or phenomenon that is considered a harbinger. People make connections between events. One is a sign of the other, of the important change that will come. The shadow that the future casts, allowing itself to be seen and prepared. I caught a bouquet at a wedding - soon it’s your turn. Spilled salt - be prepared for trouble. A black cat runs into your bosom - don’t expect good luck in business. But the question is: aren’t we inventing them ourselves? What is the role of a person in the implementation of signs? Should we believe them?
Belief in omens has deep roots, so collective experience is cemented in the memory of generations. There are signs whose basis is rational. They mostly relate to the weather and economic activities. Indeed, before the rain, swallows fly low because midges fly lower. It is difficult for them to fly high, the air is humid and condensation appears on the wings. No mysticism, only the laws of physics. But with everyday signs, covering the topic of relationships, life, luck, marriage, death and the like, everything is more complicated. There are no physical laws here. They are considered superstitions. But for some reason, despite the apparent uselessness and stupidity, such signs are alive and popular.
Why do people believe in omens?
Belief in irrational omens grows from the same place as fortune telling of various kinds. People are anxious about the future. Most of us, to tell the sad truth, do not feel like masters of our destiny. Like passengers on a ship, we peer into the distance, trying to understand what lies ahead. Not everyone has the strength to change what they can. And not everyone is endowed with the courage to accept something that is not in their power to influence. If all people had fortitude and deep calm in the face of possible challenges, signs would not be needed. What can we do? Signs help to gain a sense of control over your own life, and therefore reduce fear of it and anxiety. It's like in a game: you know the rules well and therefore you win. Follow all the subtleties and you will never suffer.
I got hooked on horoscopes, dreams, all sorts of signs, and now there is no peace for my soul. For example, about virgins born in the year of the monkey it is written that they are for physical work and stupid. And I want a child. I'm afraid to start him now, what if he turns out to be such a stupid girl.
“I'm very superstitious. You can’t put bread upside down, it’s the same as wishing death on a person. Likewise, you should not kiss on the eyes. Don't kiss a man's back, you'll break up. Do not feed sharp objects point first. Do not give knives as gifts, do not pick up found knives. You cannot wear a found cross, you will die. Do not show anything on yourself or others. I know a lot of signs, I definitely follow them, which incredibly irritates my loved ones. Well, the flag is in their hands, and then they themselves suffer.”
Why do omens come true?
And yet you can read a bunch of stories about omens coming true. I have been researching the psychology of omens for five years and I can confirm: “Sometimes it works!” This is how our psyche functions. We ourselves unconsciously implement the scenario of events we need. Why is it important for a person that omens come true? If such a connection works, then he is right in other respects. His view of the world is correct.
“You cannot pick up a found bill, no matter how high the denomination it is. “Where you find it, you lose it.” An incident happened recently. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe not. My husband came home happy and bought a bag of potatoes. He says: “For free! I walked and saw 500 rubles lying around, so I picked it up.” As I swore at him, I explained that you should never raise money. But he just waved it off, like it was all bullshit. Only that same evening we quarreled so much with him, to smithereens, that we still (for the fourth day) have not spoken. I only told him: “Well, you found the money, but you lost your peace.” For some reason I am sure that if he had not raised these 500 rubles, we would not have quarreled with him. It may be nonsense, but I can’t help it. I believe in this sign."
My wife passed by money for many years. And my husband picked it up and is pleased, “your signs are bullshit.” It turns out that she was mistaken and believed in nonsense. No! I won’t talk to you for a week, and I’ll be right. This example shows how we create events to suit our own beliefs and ideas that we consider important. It’s impossible, it means it’s impossible. Another interesting story.
“When I go to work, I can walk along the sidewalk, or I can take a shortcut along the path. I always walked differently, I didn’t bother. One day we met a colleague on the road, and we went. I'm on the path. She screamed: “Don’t you know that you can’t walk on it. The whole day is down the drain.” I heard it for the first time. It turns out that all employees are aware. I checked it many times over the course of several years. 80 percent of it comes true. Who just noticed this? Maybe you’re psychologically setting yourself up for trouble?”
It’s difficult to say to the whole team: “Nonsense! You are setting yourself up for trouble. I will walk as I walked.” It’s easier to join the group: “Yes, it’s definitely coming true!” In this case, the sign makes you part of a larger community, which is extremely important. By giving up superstition, you put yourself in opposition. A person is social, he needs to feel accepted by other people, being a black sheep is unpleasant.
It happens that believing in omens is simply beneficial for self-esteem and mental comfort. If you like to make a fuss: sprinkle salt and be bitchy to your heart's content. I didn’t study and failed the exam - the black cat is to blame. Kicked out of work for drinking - it's a leap year, bad luck.
“My friend has a superstition: if a janitor sweeps a broom in front of her, then the whole day will not work or some business will go down the drain. It doesn’t matter where he sweeps, in the subway, on the street or in the entrance. He says: “If the garbage was cleared away in front of me, then I have to return home, it won’t be a good day.” Because of this, I haven’t been working for more than a year and haven’t gotten around to interviews.”
In some cases, signs are the voice of our unconscious, intuitive level of the psyche. This usually refers to individual characteristics. We send ourselves signs. Hidden irritation and fatigue with relationships grows - we lose our wedding ring, as if allowing ourselves to free ourselves.
Why is it bad to believe in omens?
What is behind your blind adherence to superstitions? A game? A habit inherited from your mother or grandmother? Will it unite you with your friends? Not scary. It’s bad if this is a sign of an anxious suggestible personality. Sometimes a mental disorder (anancastic and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder). But here the excess is immediately noticeable. Here is a man who controls his destiny simply by looking at car license plates:
“I’ve had signs of car license plates since high school. If I see someone with the number “001”, that’s it, I’m expecting trouble; if “777” or “999” - to great luck; if there is a number “7” in the number, then this is good, there certainly won’t be anything bad, and good, well, as it turns out. And the sign always worked perfectly. “001” was compensated only when a car with three sevens or nines was found after it. But in the last couple of years I noticed that this unloved “001” stopped having such an effect on me, 
It has become completely neutral, but the triple sevens work properly. Recently it turned out that the unpleasant number is compensated by regional numbers: “77”, “97”, “177”, “197”, “777”, they all have sevens.”
“I actually took a sin on my soul here: I poisoned a neighbor’s dog, which was howling. She was the one howling for the dead man. And I was not convinced by my husband’s arguments that since the dog is the neighbor’s, then the deceased will (and if so?) be with the neighbors. I took it and poisoned it on the sly, even from my husband. A week later, my brother was stabbed to death, and miraculously survived. And I am sure that if I had not done this, my brother would have died. And so the dog howled at its own head.”
Life works like this, a thousand little things happen: we lose, we drop, we find. Cats are running, dogs are howling. If you see signs and harbingers behind everything, then joy and peace disappear.
“Oh, how tired I am of these signs! I envy people who don't believe in them! There are such lucky ones!”
“Expecting something bad because of a sign is, in my opinion, a waste of nerves. We recently returned from a rather difficult hike. This is how the husband’s cross breaks off before the first serious threshold. Thank God, it is heavy enough, the fall is impossible not to notice. The husband tied the rope, but before every serious obstacle he tensed internally - the cross fell. But nothing happened, there were no emergencies. But the expectation of something bad to some extent ruined my husband’s vacation.”
Is it a sin to believe in omens?
The Church considers belief in omens a sin. You can read this on any Orthodox website. As a psychologist, I will emphasize once again: superstitions grow out of a person’s general anxiety and suggestibility. It is difficult for people with an infantile (immature, childish) personality to resist the general collective opinion, which is well-established and well-known. There is no point in blaming this.
I don’t believe in omens, it’s like you don’t trust God. But sometimes our cleaning lady will come across you with an empty bucket, and scratch something a little in the depths of her soul. Unpleasant feeling. Or sometimes you just want to spit over your left shoulder when you hear some bullshit. But I stop myself by saying: “It’s all the evil one, the evil one is having fun!” I continue to live boldly, I am not afraid of anything. It is not so easy to get rid of what our ancestors believed in for centuries.
How to stop believing in omens
If you don't notice anything, nothing happens. How to stop noticing? Direct your attention to something truly important. Be aware of your fears, expectations, attitudes. Work on confidence, reduce suggestibility and anxiety. Understand that between the sign and future events there is the most important link - you, the person.
I really believed in all sorts of omens, until one of my friends (very devout) said: “According to your faith, you will be rewarded.” What you believe in is what you will receive. Somehow I began to pay less attention to the color of cats and women with buckets. And life became easier.
In 1910, the Encyclopædia Britannica confidently declared: “In the not-too-distant future civilization will be freed from the last specter of superstition.” Has this prediction come true in our 21st century? Are we free from their power?
V. Dahl’s dictionary gives the following definition of superstition: “Vanity, or in vain... in vain, in vain, without benefit.” “Superstition is an erroneous, empty... and false belief in something, belief in cause and consequences, but where no causal connection can be traced.”
Customs of a long-forgotten past?
Who among us doesn’t know that spilling salt means bringing misfortune on one’s head? And why do superstitious people in such a situation rush to throw a pinch of salt over their left shoulder? What are the origins of this custom?
Even in ancient times, people, noticing the preservative properties of salt, considered it a symbol of life and happiness. Yes, and it was very expensive. Accordingly, if you accidentally spilled salt, the demon got it wrong. And since it was believed to sit comfortably behind the man’s left shoulder, salt was thrown there in the hope of driving away the evil spirit.
If someone sneezed, we, of course, will unanimously wish such a person: “Be healthy.” Are you convinced that this is just a sign of politeness? But no. For a very long time there has been a belief that when a person sneezes, he sneezes out his soul. And the words “be healthy” somehow stop this process.
Well, wedding and funeral ceremonies are simply teeming with superstitions. What does a bride need to make her marriage happy? Everything is very simple. You need to decorate your wedding dress with something new, something borrowed from others, and something definitely blue. If you don’t do something, you won’t see a century of happiness. And why are there so many unhappy marriages today?
Why were mourning clothes worn to funerals in the past? These clothes were like camouflage or disguise. So people tried to become invisible to the evil spirits lying in wait for them in cemeteries. In Africa, black aborigines covered themselves with white paint so that their mother would not recognize them. And in other countries, mourners dressed up in clothes of unusual colors in order to confuse the same spirits. What a trick! These and similar customs continue to be improved to this day. We can already see mobile phones, hair dryers and boxes of chocolates being placed in the coffin. Technical progress is evident! And all this for the same thing - to appease someone and bribe them.
What do many students do when going for exams? They are armed not only with cheat sheets, but also with talismans. Various ritual actions, something like spitting, knocking on wood or on the forehead, are considered simply necessary for successfully passing the exam. There is a sign that you should write with only one pen during the exam. You should also not wash, cut or shave, apparently in order to scare away evil spirits in the person of teachers. Everyone will probably remember a dozen more similar “recipes for success.”
The birthday cake came to us right from Artemis's birthday. It was she who was the first to be presented with a cake decorated with candles by fans.
The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “Most people admit that deep down they believe in a couple of superstitions that defy all logic.”
Superstition or common sense?
Why don’t people give up superstitions in our scientifically advanced age? Why do they keep running away from black cats? Knock on wood? Do you get upset when a mirror breaks? Spit over your shoulder?
1. Some explain this attachment by saying that it is innate in us. But is it? Facts show that humans do not have the innate habit of knocking on wood. People learn this custom.
2. The second reason is religious beliefs. Thus, even the ancient Canaanites and Greeks could not imagine life without fortune-tellers, soothsayers and magicians. And the Babylonians, who were known as gamblers, eagerly peered into the insides of animals in the hope of seeing the answer to the well-known question: to be or not to be. In this way they turned to the gods for help.
3. The person has always been interested in his future. And this future was always scary. “People need to believe that there are forces protecting them from the known and the unknown.”
4. Another reason. Many, although they recognize the lack of common sense in superstitions, adhere to them. Why? And so, just in case of fire. “They may not bring any benefit, but they won’t hurt either,” they reason.
5. For some, superstitions are a reason to blame others for their failures. And thus throw the consequences of your actions onto the shoulders of others.
6. Superstitions give a person confidence in the face of danger. “Belief in the supernatural is deeply rooted in our culture because our world has become so unpredictable.”
In other words, “superstitions will persist until a person faces his future with confidence” (World Book Encyclopedia).
What signs do you believe in?
Source of the article: shkolazhizni.ru
Since ancient times, signs and superstitions have existed in society. A huge number of people spit over their left shoulder three times to avoid trouble. Returning home to get a forgotten item, many people always look in the mirror, cross to the other side of the street when they see a black cat, etc. They perform these rituals automatically, without thinking about their real meaning. From a psychological point of view, superstitions imply a conscious denial of the cause-and-effect relationship between an action and the result. It is easier for a person to perform a certain ritual than to take responsibility for the events that occur.
In doing so, it can pursue one of the following goals:
1. Protection from troubles. Troubles happen to everyone, but the reaction to them is different: you can analyze what happened and find the reason, but it’s easier to blame it on your neighbor’s “evil” eye or a black cat. If, for example, you critically examine the situation when, having returned home to get something, you need to look in the mirror, you can understand that you are tired or did not get enough sleep and that is why you did not take what you needed. However, performing the ritual with a mirror calms you down, returns a feeling of control over what is happening and does not require any analysis.
2. Finding good luck. Signs that call for success allow you to shift responsibility for what is happening from yourself to fate. A nickel under your heel or an unwashed hair before an exam is much easier than regular studies. And a happy suit before an important presentation seems more important than serious preparation. And if suddenly you fail, the problem is not with you, the ritual did not work.
3. The desire to look into the future. A person is inclined to look for clues that can indicate a possible development of events: how a new relationship will develop, what will happen to money or health, what awaits on a trip. Fortune telling and omens here perform a psychotherapeutic function: they give confidence in the future, soothe in grief, and treat the pain of unrequited love. But in fact, they save you from fear of an unknown future.
4. Feeling of safety. Performing superstitious rituals in this case helps a person avoid punishment from dark forces: for example, by not passing anything across the threshold, he does not disturb the evil spirits sleeping under him. Or the fear of “jinxing” luck: many consider it dangerous to talk in advance about some happy expectation or event in life. It is assumed that for his confidence a person will be punished by the failure of a business or other trouble.
5. A way to cope with anxiety. Some people constantly repeat certain actions: do not step on manholes on the road, count the number of stripes on wallpaper, arrange objects in a certain order, wash their hands a certain number of times. These rituals are not directly related to signs and superstitions. With these actions, a person tries to reduce inexplicable anxiety: he believes that if everything is done in a certain way and the required number of times, nothing bad will happen. If such attempts to maintain control over the situation take a lot of time and interfere with your life, you should think about a visit to a specialist.
Marina Basmanova
More details on Rambler.Horoscopes http://horoscopes.rambler.ru/article/psychology/4443779.html
People have always believed in omens. Even in the days of primitive society, being in fear of such natural phenomena as a thunderstorm or hurricane, people sought protection from otherworldly forces. They observed what comes after bad weather, after what events certain changes in life begin to occur. Time passed, people changed, but this did not make faith in omens any less. On the contrary, the more a person acquired social benefits, the more signs were born. After all, now it was necessary not only to save your life, but also everything that you had.
What do people believe?
It has long been noted that in the soul of every person there is a place that should be filled with faith in something. There is faith in love, in family, in family happiness. Ideally, this free space in the soul should be occupied by faith in God, but there is another faith - faith in omens. And if a person does not believe in something, then there will be emptiness in his soul.
The church considers any signs to be ordinary superstitions. Superstition is a false belief, something that should not be believed. It is believed that any signs are a kind of protection of a person against the elements. Nature is unpredictable. It is impossible to predict everything that happens around you. And a person is a little insect who tries to survive thanks to the signs he himself invented.
Each of us has observed ants more than once. These little workers are constantly on the move. They pull a load that is several times their own weight and size. So they work and do not realize that one careless movement of ours, one careless step, can lead to the fact that they will cease to exist. So are there any signs that will help them avoid such a fate? Hardly.
In relation to nature, we are the same as ants. We live, work, love, raise children, try to predict our future, paying attention to all sorts of things. It happens that these superstitions come true, and everything happens as we planned. However, this is the usual programming of our destiny. Everything happens as we plan. Or rather, something that we strongly believe in. If a person is constantly afraid that something bad will happen in his life, then it will definitely happen. And if you unconditionally believe that everything will be fine, then it will be so. Our thoughts are much stronger than anyone else.
People simply don't know what they are capable of. They lack faith in their own strengths and capabilities. That's when signs come to the rescue. When you know that a woman who crossed your path, or a grandmother with an empty bucket, means trouble, then you begin to program yourself for these troubles. And if you find one lying with the eagle up, or a bird on your shoulder, that means money. The more you believe in all this, the faster everything will happen. Signs simply allow you to concentrate all your thoughts on what you believe in, that’s all. But in fact, a person himself can program his life, you just need to believe in it.
