Foolish daughter challenges the very wise Voltaire
“Elle est la faiblesse du Genre-Humain, & telle sa perversité, qu’il vaut mieux sans doute pour lui d’être subjugué par toutes les superstitions possibles, pourvu qu’elles ne soient point meurtrieres, que de vivre sans Religion. L’homme a toujours eu besoin d’un frein; & quoiqu’il fût ridicule de sacrifier aux Faunes, aux Sylvains, aux Naïades, il était bien plus raisonnable & plus utile d’adorer ces images 154 fantastiques de la Divinité, que de se livrer à l’athéisme. […] La superstition est à la Religion ce que l’Astrologie est à l’Astronomie, la fille très-folle d’une mere très-sage. Ces deux filles ont long-temps subjugué toute la terre.”
“Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion. Man always needs a rein, and even if it might be ridiculous to sacrifice to fauns, or sylvans, or naiads, it is much more reasonable and more useful to venerate these fantastic images of the Divine than to sink into atheism. […] Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: the foolish daughter of a very wise mother. These two daughters, superstition and astrology, have subjugated the world for a long time.”
–Voltaire (S’il est utile d’entretenir le Peuple dans la superstition? from Traité sur la tolérance, 1763)
In Voltaire’s Treatise on Tolerance, he explains away superstition—from the Latin superstitio, literally meaning “standing over” (in awe? Standing deathly still?), defined as an ignorant fear of the unknown or mysterious—as something of a pacifier for our feeble, perverse little minds in the absence of established religion. Counterfeit money when there is no good money, acorns when we have no bread. A snack to stave off hunger discarded upon the deliverance of a proper meal.
Naturally, it’s no surprise a man writing in the Enlightened Age would denounce seemingly irrational beliefs—broken mirrors, black cats, evil things coming in threes. Knocking on wood, lucky numbers, warm-up rituals, wishing on shooting stars, lucky pennies. It’s easy to write these off for having no basis in fact, to point and laugh at your cautious companions for drawing connections between wildly unrelated events, grasping for some semblance of control over their fate. Nevertheless, there’s no harm in stuffing your belongings in lockers labeled with multiples of seven for every exam, nor in dribbling a ball three times before making a free throw. If your friends find delight in crystals and Tarot, then who should deny them the indulgence? Why cackle at caution?
‘Old Wives’ Tales’ has always carried some pejorative meaning. And while Voltaire wasn’t entirely wrong to point out the danger of organizing your life around weak correlations—for instance, did you know that former First Lady Nancy Reagan arranged her husband’s appointments based on the recommendations of her LA-based astrologer, Joan Quigley?—superstitions aren’t always the language of fools. Contrary to popular belief, psychological surveys show that most people engage in some kind of superstition (more often people wearing lucky socks to a big game than gasping in horror at a stray black cat crossing their path). You might even think of the oh-so-ridiculous Snapchat or Instagram chain messages—send this to 10 friends or else! weaving their way through your feed. Behavioral psychologist Stuart Vyse highlights some curious cases in his book, Believing in Magic: the Psychology of Superstition, of Red Sox fans blaming decades of bad luck and losses at MLB championships on The Curse of the Bambino, yet (amusingly) attributing victories to the team’s own merit. Gamblers lay waste to their savings every day, paying and playing expecting their luck to turn. Many parents (particularly now, when certain media personalities falsely link Tylenol use with autism) prefer homeopathic and naturopathic medicines to vital vaccines and tried and true treatments.
But of course, in the rush to debunk alternative medicines with your Midwestern suburban mom in mind, we forget non-Western systems of healing. Indigenous practices, acupuncture, and Ayurvedic medicine—and many more anthropologists would certainly be better qualified to explain—could easily be written off as “superstitious practices” by dominant powers. We miss manifestations of gender norms across the centuries, or laypeople understandings of pregnancy—don’t sit at the corner of the table, else you’ll never marry. Don’t sit on cold concrete, it’s bad for your fertility! When marriage and childbearing was once the be all end all, naturally wisened old women were whispering precautions.
With those crumbs for consideration, think: How has the label of “superstition” been used by dominant religions to illegitimize alternate belief systems? What are the dangers of seemingly “irrational” systems of beliefs? When do superstitions spiral into conspiracies? How does “respect your elders” become “she’s off her rocker?” Sit tight, warm yourself beside a cackling fire, let grandma tell you a tale.
Turn the page and lend your ear to a sage.