A Belief - Is it Superstition or Faith?

By Staff

Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 12:10

The answer is Yes. A belief may appear as a superstition or it may become a faith too. The words belief, superstition and faith even though they appear to be the same in sense outwardly, there is a vast difference inwardly. Superstition is also a belief and faith is an undaunted firm belief sticking on to which and following which, one can achieve miraculous mental experiences. So one can say that the words superstition and faith are the derivatives of the word belief and pivoted to, belief. All the three words have psychological substratum. Then what is belief? It is simply the trust. Belief and trust define each other and are like two sides of the same coin. A belief may be scientific and un-scientific in which case it becomes a blind belief or a superstition.

For example, in villages there is a belief that if a chicken lies on the ground in a sunny atmosphere, it is a forecast of weather (i.e) a symptom of rain in the near future. This belief has certain scientific truth in it. When both temperature and humidity rises in the atmosphere, some chicken act this way which is an indication of rain fall. Even human beings, if they feel sultry, they say there is a sign of rain fall on the same day or next.

Now we take another example for unscientific belief, in other words superstition. There are some people who believe that if a crow or a cat passes from their right to left while they are going along a road, they jump to a conclusion that if they proceed further neglecting the bad omen, they will not, be successful in their work. Many such superstitions are in practice even in this twentieth scientific century, where high degree of enquiry and power of thinking is developed. But one peculiarity is many a times a superstition cannot appear as a superstition at all which puts one in dilemma whether to follow it or not.

There are certain beliefs for which there are psychological reasons. If a child or a person who is not brave enough gets a shock of fear while passing through a dark place, suffers from fever, he will be taken to a temple in that village. The Archaka of the temple binds Yantra in the name of the deity which cures the fever. This is because of the psychological action performed in the mind of the person who received the shock of fear. When he is bound by the Yantra and when he hears the words of assurance from the Archaka that everything will be alright. the person goes on developing a confidence that he will be alright which can turn out to be true also. This is because every psychological action is followed by a physiological action. Action of mind and body are interdependent. Nowadays clinical psychology cures many aliments of the mind effectively.

About the author

Padma Bai.R.S

This article is written by Padma Bai.R.S for Vedanta Vani, Chinmaya Mission.