Maybe Superstitions Aren't Baseless

But they shouldn't be your basis

Jessica Chastain starred in Interstellar as Murphy Cooper, one of the main characters in the epic science fiction. Murphy did not like her name because her parents drew inspiration from something ‘evil’, she said. But Murphy’s law is not evil, it is just highly misconstrued and often misstated.

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”

Like scientific laws, Murphy’s is based on repeated observations, but unlike scientific laws, the theory is generally taken as a light-hearted attempt at deducing nature’s skew against us. So, in that manner, it is not a fact; yet anytime I try to observe it, I find that it seems truer than is given credit. It does make sense that, provided there is no external intervention, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. “Go wrong” in this context means an undesired, tragic, or catastrophic outcome. For example, assume that there are two queues A and B. You are in queue A, but queue B is the faster queue. Once you switch to B, chances are that A will suddenly begin to move faster than your new queue B. Now imagine that you are with your friend in the not-so-distant future, driving on a two-lane road with some heavy traffic. Your lane seems slower than the other but because of your multiple experiences with Murphy’s queue example, you decide not to move to the other lane. Your friend starts to question your refusal to switch to the obviously faster lane, and you explain your dilemma to him. I’m pretty sure that the first thing your friend will label you is “superstitious”.

The primary definition of superstition alludes cause to something supernatural or magical, but that’s not the purview of this piece. I prefer the second one, which explains it as a strong tendency to maintain a notion, practice, or ritual with the belief that it affects outcomes, with little or no evidence that it truly does. Sometimes, there might even be evidence to the contrary. I think we are all superstitious and, to be fair to us, I think it is our way of rationalising occurrences we normally would be unable to explain, especially when it establishes a pattern. For example, experience has taught me that I should never block my two ears when I board a bus because the last three times I tried it almost led to an accident in each case. After the first two times, I noticed the trend and decided to be daring the third time. Within 5 minutes, the bus I was in was involved in a hot pursuit with a petrol tanker. Of course, I am never trying it again. Also, there is a route I used to pass to church, but I had to start passing an alternative route recently. When I was driving through my normal route earlier this year, the belt of the car got cut. Somewhere in my mind, I believed and still believe that it was that road that spoilt the belt, so I found an alternative route. Now, when I must pass through the normal route (because it is considerably shorter and I could be rushing), my heart always beats faster when I approach the area where the belt got cut. I always have to pray that my belt does not cut there!

These two examples I gave are one category of superstitious beliefs which I call event-related superstitions. I have two categories, and the second is performance-related superstitions. When people who have such beliefs do not go through their preparation process in the right manner or if the conditions for their superstitions are not in place pre-execution, they panic about their performances. I had a similar one too, and it’s that I could never underperform in an exam that is held on a rainy day. It stayed true for over 8 years, but Dr. Ayorinde of UNILAG changed my story. You would find other examples among business leaders, world leaders, athletes, and people of the arts. Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck and jeans trademark attire was, to him, for good luck. Serena Williams used to wear the same pair of socks throughout a tournament while David Beckham always wore his right foot boot before the left. The interesting thing about these rituals is that they can be perfectly explained from a non-superstitious point of view. For example, Serena’s could be a matter of comfort while Beckham’s could be a case of habit. But all it must have taken to dogmatise the practice would have been an unlucky day of poor performance that coincided with them not doing their ritual. So, I don’t think superstitions are baseless as it seems they are always based on real-life experiences.

But I often wonder if having such superstitious beliefs somehow is fully compatible with Christianity. I mean, does my two-earphones-in-a-bus belief make me contravene any known Christian laws? Of faith? Of faith? One could even argue that such a belief ought to keep me generally safer because using the two earphones while in transit would make me less sensitive to my environment should anything happen. If we asked God, He would probably advise that I keep my earphones and other devices in the bag till I arrive at my destination. Also, did the rain make me pass those exams or I was helped by God to prepare well and remember what I had read? Again, one could argue that the rain provided a calm atmosphere which eliminated heat stress and reduced mental pressure, almost like an ASMR experience. So if I truly believe my superstitions, it is likely that I would give more credence to them than to God for safe travels and exam success.

Now, the clearest insight I have about superstitions is that they highlight the power of the mind in shaping our experiences. To a significant degree, your mind shapes your reality such that, in the presence of only the most necessary conditions, what you think is what will happen to you. If you believe in Murphy’s law like I used to, then do not be surprised that the worst will almost always happen to you. But now, I know that it is very simple: as harmless as having a fun superstition could seem, I think such beliefs could numb our faith and trust in God. If this happens, it also means that it could steal (a part of) the glory that should entirely be given to God. So, in that light, the reason for the calmness that leads to a successful presentation at work should not be that I wore my good luck bracelet — when I’m not a traditionalist. It should be simply because God helped me, and I should thank Him accordingly.