Avoid chaos
Psychotherapist Christos Andre (Chris-tophe Andre) explains: the basis of superstition lies in our desire to establish a cause-effect relationship between events. The ability to such conclusions was necessary for our ancestors to survive. Therefore, it is often easier for our minds to invent a magical connection between two independent facts than to allow an accidental coincidence. So we make the unpredictable world more orderly - even if only in our imagination. The whole day I am being victimized? It's okay, it should be, because today is Friday, the 13th.
Tame Destiny
We intuitively understand that there are forces over which we are not powerful, and they can influence us. For example, no matter how well I manage my financial affairs, the global financial crisis will still affect me. We can not control everything. This feeling gives rise to anxiety. And inactivity aggravates it. Rituals and signs are an opportunity to do something to protect against adversity, to establish harmony with the elements or to be comforted. " For example, the folk sign says: "The lack of money is before wealth" and advises giving alms to get rich. The more we are inclined to worry, the more we need superstition. Rituals have the same comforting power as prayers. Risky situations, where the outcome does not depend on the person, but on chance, also increases the need for superstition. According to statistics, professional athletes, Formula 1 pilots and matadors are more superstitious than ordinary people.
Common memory
Superstitions establish not only an imaginary connection between the facts, but also a very real one - between people. "We are strongly influenced also by the family heritage and culture," Christophe André underlines. If we at the same time spat with someone through the left shoulder or amicably turn aside, when we see on the road a black cat, we will feel the community. Most likely, and the fairy tale to us in the childhood read the same. I never put bread in a crust down - not because I believe it's unfortunate, but because my grandmother taught me so, and I do it in memory of her. And museum legends - for example, about the ghost of the Emperor Paul I, who, it is assured, still wanders around the Mikhailovsky Castle - revitalize our common history, make it more fascinating and intimate. Perhaps tapping on wood is a memory that our ancestors believed in a kind wood spirit, which they called for protection from evil.
Knowing of limits
Superstition is a property of our psyche, it can not be good or bad. Until this helps us to live, but does not interfere, everything is in order. We all - or almost all - have fun sometimes by stepping over cracks on the asphalt. However, if we do this, "to avoid unhappiness," and panic, accidentally stepping on the rift, it already looks like a neurosis. In this case, it may be helpful to consult with a specialist. Determine this point can be the frequency of "spell-binding" actions, by how many different superstitions a person has, and by how much they restrict his freedom. Now we know what superstitions, beliefs, signs, origins and their significance are.