ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Are You Superstitious? Do You Believe In 'Signs'?

Updated on August 5, 2012

Superstition: are you susceptible to it? Do you throw salt over your shoulder when you spill it? Curse when a black cat crosses your path? Avoid walking under ladders and touch wood whenever you find yourself verbally tempting fate? Well, don't we all – or at least most of us. It's hard to resist such socially ingrained tradtional rituals of superstition and invocations for maintenance of security.




Buy Lucky Charm Products On Amazon

But even apart from the standard, popularly accepted folk superstitions such as these, many of us are susceptible to an interpretation of the world that takes random events as signs of a greater meaning and intentionality to life – a greater, wider plan if you will. This approach to viewing life as deeply meaningful, and coincidences as anything but, is very popular in the New Age type community (or communities) and amongst readers of books such as The Secret by Rhonda Byrne



Certainly this way of thinking about your life can be deeply comforting. The thought that everything has significance, is planned out and guided instead of being a frustrating, uncontrollable jumble is lovely, and perhaps rather suspect because of that. Is it just wishful thinking? Well, what other guidance are you going to find in this uncertain life? Certainly I have on occasion been guilty of wishfully interpreting suggestively synchronicitous events in the most convenient way possible for my preferred version of reality, and acting accordingly. The results of such muddled thinking have not always been stellar – mixed, to say the least! (There are innumerable meanings you can give to the littlest thing when in the grip of an insane crush... let us say no more!)



Unfortunately statisticians who know rather more about the subject than I do (since a couple of modules on statistics and probability in college don't exactly qualify me to comment), rather seem to be of the opinion that startling coincidences are, uh, not so startling as all that. Getting a call from an acquaintance after reading the single email she ever sent you while deleting your archives? The obscure name you'd picked up for your first-born popping up in three separate places on a first date with a new guy? The book recommended by your sister, your boss and a random stranger on the bus within the space of forty-eight hours? I'm sorry, these all fall within the range of plausible statistical co-incidence – apparently. Seems like it would be more unlikely for apparently 'meaningful' events never to randomly happen, than for them to stagger us with their terrifying implausibility. That, plus sequential lottery winning numbers are no less likely than any other combination... It just messes with your head!

But does it really matter if there's no objectively deducible higher power or deeper meaning that shapes the events of our lives? What if the important meaning of the narrative that we live on a daily basis, is the subjective meaning we choose to give it. Maybe the personal symbolism we bestow upon random events enables us to make better sense of our lives and live them usefully and joyously, irrespective of any 'objective' and 'real' meaning. Perhaps the subconscious or the 'id' can better direct us to benefiical channels and routes through existence, than some pre-prescribed prescriptive system such as politics or religion, at least with the help of mysterious synchonicity.

Of course, if synchronicity and the meaning of chance events are actually, objectively real, then all of this is the merest speculative steam blowing off the mouth of a whistling kettle! But will we ever know? Perhaps we'll never know...

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)