കാർമൽ ഇ.എം. ഗേൾസ് എച്ച്.എസ്.എസ് വഴുതക്കാട്/അക്ഷരവൃക്ഷം/THE EVOLUTION OF SUPERSTITIONS

THE EVOLUTION OF SUPERSTITIONS Do not call someone from the back!... We all might have heard this at least once in our lifetime.In this 21st centuary, despite the growing dominance of scientific explanations, superstitions are still a thing. It's surprising that we the humankind had even dared to step on moon, somewhere none of us had ever been to, but still don't dare to walk under a ladder, a simple tool that we ourselves made!. India being the land of mysticism and myths is filled with strange superstitions. The allotment of vehicle no.13 being avoided by the ministers is quite common here. Superstitions are not just about these irrational fears.At times they become extremely hazardous.do why did superstitious believes originate ?And in spite of being in the scientific era why are they still affecting the society? This essay is an attempt to unveil the above mentioned questions . Superstitions are believes that are not based on science and are rather based on supernatural forces or fear.These believes were always against science. Science is based on facts, it has logic and that is the very thing that superstitions dearth. For instance, imagine that you slipped and broke your arms...ask a scientist and he could give the reason by explain that there is this thing called gravity which will pull you to the ground if you lost the support to your centre of gravity.But if you asked the same question to someone superstitious ... the answer would be small... you fell because a black cat crossed your path!! In science, the seriousness of your injury depends upon your momentum bit in superstition it entirely depends upon things such as the register number of your car or the colour of the cat that just passed by.This is the meaninglessness of superstitions . When we analyse the journey of superstitions , we land on 3 different stages. Stage 1- superstitions originated. Stage 2- science began to arise and so did scientific explanations.Things or events that were considered supernatural were proved otherwise.But nevertheless majority of people relied on superstitions. Stage3- science gained prominence and became diplomatically accepted by the major yet superstitions sustained.Let's get deeper into them for further understanding. The stage one dates back to the time when we,the humans , were nothing but meak creatures searching for food all day.At those times, with no schooling, no jobs , and absolutely nothing that distress us today, all that we had to do was hunt for food and eat it. But this hunting and eating was not as easy as it sounds, surviving in the jungle with thousands of other species to compete with was indeed a herculean task. So how exactly did we accomplish it? Simple ...our secret to Success was communication.We not only communicated about which fruits could be eaten and which of them are poisonous, we also talked about things That merely exist!! And these fictions ,weather it was about a tribal spirit or sometjing like that, held us together .. with a common belief we were able to achieve things collectively and much more efficiently.Gradually we started using these fictions to answer the questions that perplexed us.A pre-historic man , if asked what the sun was , had no answer.Thanks to the origin of superstitions and myths, his descendant could say that "the sun is our guardian spirit" . As time flew , we progressed .We no longer did eke out a living out of rotten fruit scrapes and meat of animals that we hunt.First we began to cultivate , then we learned handicrafts and gradually we progressed enough to get time to sit down and think about complex things instead of roaming in a jungle to satisfy our hunger .As we contemplated more, thousands of complicated questions arose in our minds. Thanks to our creative minds we created thousands of complex and unscientific superstitions to answer them.These superstitions took a toll then, from "the sun is our guardian spirit" they tragically turned into " I will take their souls to please the guardian spirit".Not only human sacrifices other deadly superstitions were prevalent then to which thousands of innocent people became victims.As science emerged scientific explanations opposed superstitious believes.As the science behind events started to be unveiled, superstitions were proved to be absurd. But not all people accepted the fact that what they believed for years was wrong.They simply neglected such claims. In fact, at that time speaking against the superstitions that existed then was an accomplishment that needed great courage, let me remind the fact that Galelio was imprisoned for believing in Heliocentrism instead of geocentrism. The journey from a superstitious society to a scientific society was a feat.But we are not successful yet.The news of a Kerala boy who murdered his own family shocked us.But the truth is that, even though we ate arrogant of being the most scientifically progresses society witchcrafts, black magics, sacrifices and other cruel practises prevail among the ignorant masses. They exist by leveraging our habit of blindly believing. The enlightenment and our continuing advancements in science expose these irrational believes . Let's hope that the light shed by science will lead us to a better world , a world with no remnants of our dark past. Aiswarya S 9 D കാർമൽ ഇ.എം. ഗേൾസ് എച്ച്.എസ്.എസ് വഴുതക്കാട് തിരുവനന്തപുരം സൗത്ത് ഉപജില്ല തിരുവനന്തപുരം അക്ഷരവൃക്ഷം പദ്ധതി, 2020 ലേഖനം  സാങ്കേതിക പരിശോധന - Sheelukumards തീയ്യതി: 20/ 04/ 2020 >> രചനാവിഭാഗം - ലേഖനം