WESTERNERS laugh at the benighted superstitions of their Asian and African brothers. How amusing it is to learn that Burmans refuse to wash their hair on Saturdays, that Zambians believe eggs cause sterility, that Chinese voyagers never turn over the fish on their plates for fear of capsizing their ships. In fact, Westerners themselves seem to becoming the most superstitious people the on earth. For all his faith in scientific reason, Western man is so baffled by complex social and economic problems that he is increasingly attracted to irrational solutions—to all kinds of new black magic.
Superstition is a natural human reaction to over whelming dangers or baffling situations. The word stems from the Latin superstitio, meaning "a standing still over," and connotes amazement or dread of supernatural forces beyond one's control. Rationalists scorn superstition as a hangover of primitive man's obsolete interpretations of the world. Indeed, nothing seems sillier nowadays than rituals like knocking on wood or chanting "God bless you!" (to prevent the sneezer's soul from flying away). Even so, modern behavioral scientists respect superstition as an enduring expression of the human need to master the inexplicable. "One man's superstition is another's religion," contends Anthropologist Sol Tax.
Says Margaret Mead: "Superstitions reflect the keenness of our wish to have something come true or to prevent something bad from happening. The half acceptance and half denial accorded superstitions give us the best of both worlds."
In tne second half of the 20th century, the gap be tween wish and denial has often been widened by the very institutions that should provide certainty. Science has bared the mysteries of subatomic particles, and in the process has almost turned into a new metaphysics groping for evidence of things unseen. As organized religion loses its appeal through stuffiness or sterility, people seeking faith increasingly turn to mystical religions, such as Zen and Zoroastrianism.
Susceptible Scientists
To be sure, modern life is already rife with ancient superstitions that will probably never go out of style. But the new phenomenon is the upsurge in new superstitions—the faith in flying saucers, the theory that H-bomb tests caused rain and that the test ban has since caused droughts. Even scientists are highly susceptible to superstitious beliefs. One California physicist who flies to Washington once a month eases his fear of a crash by carrying a special amulet: a copy of TIME, a magazine he otherwise dislikes.