Class 11 English Unit 8 Humour and Satire

(The prefix “super-” shares the common meaning of “above,” “beyond,” “more than,” or “extreme.”)

The essay aims to strongly convey the message that we are universally following superstitions, both knowingly and unknowingly. Every human individual, no matter how highly logical, educated, or rational he/she claims to be, carries some form of internalized superstition. The essayist believes that many superstitions are incredibly widespread and so ancient that they must have risen from a primitive depth of the human mind that is entirely indifferent to any modern race or creed.

The essay is highly satirical in the sense that it sharply satirizes both educated and uneducated people who are the active victims of it. Absurd activities like throwing salt over the left shoulder after spilling it, actively avoiding walking under a ladder, resolving a complex matter related to university affairs by arbitrarily consulting the I Ching, or placing jujus and lucky coins on the desks of candidates in a modern examination hall—these are some of the ironic, superstitious activities he brilliantly satires to expose human hypocrisy.

Education may or may not bring a complete change in the deeply rooted belief of superstition, but it certainly has a profound impact. Fundamentally, education can make people significantly less superstitious in their daily actions. At the very least, educated people are far more likely to send the sick to a modern hospital to receive medical science, rather than to call local priests or shamans to cast out demons in order to cure the sick. Education provides a rational understanding of diseases, their biological causes, and their verifiable cures. Historically, superstitions are born due to a primal fear of the unknown. Once the unknown becomes logically known through science, there is no longer any desperate need for superstition.

However, the question remains: can education eradicate superstition entirely? It is only theoretically possible when human beings gain complete, absolute knowledge of everything in the universe, which is impossible. As long as humans face uncontrollable variables like luck, death, and risk, some psychological superstitions will remain as comfort mechanisms. For the present, however, quality education does successfully reduce a vast amount of harmful, socially paralyzing superstitious beliefs around the world.

Superstitions in My Community

Superstitions are as old as human civilization itself. The earliest men, who had absolutely no scientific knowledge of how the world worked, fell as easy prey to superstition to explain lightning, disease, and death. Thus, illiteracy, a severe lack of knowledge, and the inability to reason out cause and effect are the hotbeds which generate and perpetuate superstition.

Mahatma Buddha was probably the first great philosopher to actively expound and explain the immense value and significance of rational reason, which aimed to eliminate toxic superstition altogether. He emphasized that everything should be thoroughly studied, judged, and tested practically before being believed. Later, many other great reformers like Guru Nanak and Kabir exhorted the people to shun exploitative superstitions.

Many people may argue that faith is also merely a form of superstition. But, as we can see if we think deeply, there is a core difference. Faith is a positive, psychological factor that builds moral strength, whereas superstition is a negative, fear-driven factor. Earlier, dangerous superstition was rampant in remote villages. The belief in evil ghosts was common. It was believed that these ghosts operated only at night. Taking cruel advantage of this, many clever men turned into tantriks and so-called controllers of ghosts. They cheated the gullible villagers out of their money. Unfortunately, even at present, such clever men are still at work in some corners of our society.

There are many kinds of minor superstitions which are observed daily by common people in my community. The sudden throbbing of eyes, a black cat crossing our path, or coming across an empty vessel—all these are blindly believed to be inauspicious. Conversely, the cawing of a crow indicates the possibility of a guest visiting our house that day. We should actively try to develop a scientific spirit of mind and judge everything on the solid basis of reason rather than blind belief.

Yes, it is undoubtedly true that superstition is prevalent in every walk of life, across all geographic and economic borders. Man originally started to believe in superstitions when he got a terrifying feeling that humans are entirely at the mercy of powerful natural elements. Similarly, some social superstitions were also created intentionally to enforce cultural values and discipline. As a result, people worshipped the raw forces of nature for a very long time to appease them.

The ancient Greeks and Pagans used to worship the elements of nature in the anthropomorphic form of Gods and Goddesses. The same is the case with traditional Nepalese tradition. People continue to religiously worship the sun, moon, stars, planets, and plants, genuinely believing these celestial things have the magical power to influence our daily lives. You might have heard phrases like ‘it is because of the impact of some evil star’ when a disease overtakes a family or a natural disaster strikes. Even the highly educated people in the West have been believing in them. You will find prominent instances in Shakespeare’s classic plays where he heavily includes things like omens, curses, and witches.

In fact, ever since a long time till date, Western people still consider the number 13 to be highly unlucky, to the point of removing the 13th floor from modern hotels. Similarly, salt spilling over the dinner table is also considered an ill-omen. In Nepal, people still consider a black cat crossing the way to be a sign of immediate bad luck. Similar is the case of an owl hooting at night or a dog wailing. If we look at it logically and closely, there is no scientific logic behind the beliefs in these superstitions. However, they have grown deeply age-old and despite all the brilliant scientific advancement of the 21st century, they are not going anywhere soon, proving they are prevalent in every walk of human life.