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Friday, April 13, 2007

Paraskevidekatriaphobia Anyone?

That little word means the fear of Friday the 13th. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. Here's some info about the origins of these superstitions. And from another site:

Friday the 13th phobia has its roots in the early days of Christianity. There were 13 people at Christ's Last Supper before his captivity, and then He was crucified on a Friday. Since number 13 is regarded as an ominous and unlucky. The latest example of ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission, which was, aborted en route to the moon in 1970 because of a fuel cell in the service module. The flight left the launching pad at 13 minutes after the hour on April 13.In China also, 13 was regarded as a number of obstacles.

In the ancient religion of Mexico, number 13 were considered the most fortunate number- since it symbolizes the Sun, the male and positive energy. In the Cabala, 13 are not regarded as unlucky. In the second book of the Moses, one can study of the 13 attributes of God (Exodus34: 6-7). In numerology, it is a number of practical, alert, and intelligent. Those born on this date are very successful in scientific research and development. Their interests in religion and philosophy can bring them great fame and siddhis/ riddhis (powers that are believed to be supernatural)

Are you more adamant about your fear of number 13? Would you consider living on floor marked 13 in unit 13? Most of the scientist world does not offer you any solid proof, but stating it is simply a superstition phobia. For centuries, the scary combination of Friday the 13 has portended misfortune to many across this world. The number 13 by itself have led many high-rise buildings to number of their floors 12 to 14. Although the West is famous for scientific technological wizardry and education, the number 13's superstition still has a powerful hold on many aspects of everyday life. It seems to be that even concern authorities and governments recognize the power of this number and willing to bend the rules. Perhaps numbers do have their strengths.

I suffer from neither of these phobias nor have I ever been superstitious. I'm not sure about luck either, although I have known some people who seemed to be either extremely lucky or unlucky. These concepts are totally un-Christian and illogical. What's up with breaking a mirror? Seven years of bad luck? That's an awfully harsh sentence just for being clumsy. I do believe that we can psyche ourselves out and influence an outcome because of a strong belief - ergo the placebo effect.

There are groups of people who appear to be particularly superstitious. Sports figures and sailors immediately come to mind.

Superstitions are an attempt to have some control over what happens to us, realizing how truly powerless we are to influence events that could make our lives either very happy or very unhappy. At best we can control ourselves. Everything else is seemingly up in the air. I have no idea whether all things that occur to us are random or controlled by some divine equation of reality.

1 comment :

  1. That's because you cannot reconcile the sovereignty of and faith in God with blind luck and superstition. To believe in the latter means that you believe that your life is controlled by hostile, impersonal elements, not a loving and just God.

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