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I light a candle when I consult my runes for something important.
Don't tell the other Christians!
Heck I think Most Christians do that same sort of stuff, I know I have a million times. There is very similar things in the bible where you toss and let the dice decide. When I went nuts, it's all I had, I only lived for the signs and the signs came in very many forms. One day I decided that from now on, I would only live for the signs, and this was only done through practicing a spiritual language.
I lived so much by signs that I would get stuck in places and wouldn't be able to leave thinking there must be some unfinished business, and colors alone might tell me whether I could leave or stay. I lived like that for years just studying what an olive tree would say, or what a vine would tell me, different kinds of birds, and everything I looked at, I saw things different than anyone around me, but then ya know, I was crazy as hell. Now, there are no signs, there are no colors, there are no dice, no runes but it sure was fun sometimes, and although I was crazy as all get out, I learned a great deal. I look back at it now like I was King Nebuchadnezzar who also went insane for 7 years.
Well, I guess I lied a little, I still see some signs, just not in the way I used to, I don't look at them in the same way anymore as if there was some thing I needed to do.
Well, I guess I lied a little, I still see some signs, just not in the way I used to, I don't look at them in the same way anymore as if there was some thing I needed to do.
I don't really have any superstitions. As a kid I thought it was good luck if you seen the same car back to back, like two 05 Impalas at a light, but mostly I've always considered it dumb.
"A black cat crossing your path signifies that it's going somewhere." -Groucho Marx
I don't really have any superstitions. As a kid I thought it was good luck if you seen the same car back to back, like two 05 Impalas at a light, but mostly I've always considered it dumb.
"A black cat crossing your path signifies that it's going somewhere." -Groucho Marx
I have a black cat crossing my path every day, especially when I'm not feeding him fast enough.
Yesterday was Friday the 13th. That date bothers some people. Those same people probably won't walk under a ladder and may be frightened of breaking a mirror.
Sports figures are notoriously superstitious, often wearing the same underwear or socks when on a winning streak. They will alter patterns of behaviour or routes to the park/arena when things are going poorly.
Carried to an extreme, it can result in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but I have a hunch most of us indulge in some behaviours that may be labelled superstitious.
I don't relate to the "classic" ones such as mentioned above. Black cats crossing my path don't bother me a lick. But before any longish drive, I'll make a small sign of the cross on my forehead with my thumb (a holdover from my Catholic youth) and stroke a couple of bird feathers, asking for a bird's far-sightedness and quick reaction time. I'll knock wood (or my head) when expressing a wish. Doing so becomes automatic/ritualistic.
Many religious/spiritual ceremonies rely on rituals and ritualistic behaviour that some may type as superstitious: crossing oneself, genuflecting etc.
Whatever it is we do, I suppose we do it because we feel better for it. I just find it interesting and would love to hear others' thoughts -- and confessions.
Intense religious belief is one of the main causes of OCD.
Religious OCD: 'I'm going to hell'
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
updated 7:33 AM EDT, Sat May 31, 2014
(CNN) -- "When she was 12, Jennifer Traig's hands were red and raw from washing them so much. She'd start scrubbing a half an hour before dinner; when she was done, she'd hold her hands up like a surgeon until her family sat down to eat.
Jennifer Traig was obsessed with cleanliness and avoiding pork fumes when she was a teenager.
Her handwashing compulsions began at the time she was studying for her Bat Mitzvah. She was so worried about being exposed to pork fumes that she cleaned her shoes and barrettes in a washing machine.
'"Like a lot of people with OCD, I tended to obsess about cleanliness,' said Traig, now 42. But because I was reading various Torah portions, I was obsessed with a biblical definition of cleanliness.'"
"First I had to get rid of all my sins, ask forgiveness, do it in the right way, and then I had to pray for protection," said Barbour, now 50. "Or, if something bad happened to my family, it would be my fault because I had not prayed good enough."
"The women come from different faith backgrounds: Barbour is Methodist and Traig is Jewish. But as children they believed fervently that they needed to conduct their own rituals and prayers, or else disaster would befall their families.
Both women say they suffered from a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder known as scrupulosity. A fear of sin or punishment from deities characterizes this condition, said Jonathan Abramowitz, professor and associate chairman of the department of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, involves unwanted thoughts ("obsessions") and accompanying behaviors called compulsions that patients use to reduce anxiety. In scrupulosity, the obsessions have a religious or moral underpinning."
"How common is this condition?
Scrupulosity is an understudied subcategory of OCD. Attempts at characterizing how many people might have this disorder, from the 1990s and early 2000s, suggested that somewhere between 5% and 33% of OCD patients have religious obsessions. Scientists are not sure what causes OCD, but they believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors may be at play.
In societies where religiosity is more stringent, the numbers are higher: 50% of OCD patients in Saudi Arabia and 60% in Egypt said they had religious obsessions, according to studies from the early 1990s." http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/31/health...html?hpt=hp_t3
My late aunt had OCD, as does the wife of one of my oldest friends. The obsessions can become so severe as to be debilitating. It's because they believe that God is watching them 24-7, and judging everything that they do.
Religious belief is a form of mental illness which becomes more prevalent in the lives of religious people in direct relationship with the person's level of religiosity.
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