S. F.8 hours ago
Apropos superstition , is there anything more narcissistic than the current trend of New Age beliefs that one must be incessantly positive or else you will bring disaster upon yourself? In the US this is an epidemic.
1
I think it is more insidious as an explanatory mechanism, which gives totally false reasons for episodes of misfortune. I think it is also a sign of late modernity, because if people were out in nature, they would have a better capacity to judge the direction of cause and effect. For instance, a forest does not stand charred and black because it is waiting for a fire, but because a fire has already been through it. As remarkable as it sounds, modern people have forgotten how to make direct observations.
