June 17, 2008

Reality and Imagination

Reality and Imagination

There are lots of people who believe in anything and everything, from superstitions to myths to even folk tales, like fairies, mermaids, and the like. Even if none of us have really seen any of them, save for some who insist sightings, or even experienced them, we tend to believe, nonetheless, especially if a friend of a friend of a friend claims to have seen them.

More often than not, we attribute ill luck to superstitious beliefs, instead of pointing to carelessness, irresponsibility, and sheer natural and human error.

Take for example one case during a wedding ceremony, where one of the groom’s cord sponsors accidentally broke the cord in half. The cord is meant to symbolize the binding and lasting relationship between the married couple. In some cultures, having the cord break during the ceremony is a bad sign. It can mean that the husband and wife’s relationship might not last as intended. Needless to say, the incident alarmed those who were present.

True enough, after a couple of years, the wife died. Now, in this case, the death of the wife is immediately associated with the breaking of the cord, disregarding the fact that the wife had some kind of sickness. In fact, they even attributed this sickness to the breaking of the cord. Depending on your cultural orientation, you can either discount this as very silly or be creeped out by the turn of events.

Now, where does all this belief come from? It doesn’t start with your great grandfather or great grandmother – it actually starts in your head. This is what is called negative thinking. Belief that doesn’t have a basis is clinically associated with negative thoughts.

Another is that belief comes from the fact that people need to have a basis for their imaginative ideas. This is why they usually come up with all these ridiculous origins. For the lack of anything tangible that would strengthen their conclusions, people often revert to the supernatural and attribute events to the gods and divination.

How is this considered negative thinking? It demeans the real purpose or reason for the event. All of these events happen because of some old-age superstition or a belief that has been passed on from generation to generation. Again, it all depends on what your orientation is. Nevertheless, we should never solely rely on the ethereal nature of situations and leave everything to destiny and fate. Nothing springs out of nothing.

There is no immediate “cure” for all of these situations, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, then it could be safe. But the one thing that can be learned from all of these is how to curb one’s negative thinking. Stay away from negative beliefs, because, in the long run, when one believes all of these, you will have difficulty separating reality from imagination.

To learn more go to www.selfimageimprovement.com

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