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Superstition and
Fortune Cookies
M. LaCourt
Published
on
February 13, 2007
[Moderator's Note: We thank Ms Marilyn
LaCourt, psychologist and author of the critically acclaimed novel "The
Prize: A Novel About Bullies and Victims" for granting us permission to
publish this article on our website. Her website is
http://www.lacourt-m.com/ ]
When asked, most of us would deny we’re
superstitious. However, we throw spilled salt over our left shoulder,
or avoid walking under a ladder, just in case. If we’re honest we
might have to admit we worry just a little if we break a mirror.
We don’t really believe the
“fortunes” contained in fortune cookies, do we? Most of them
really don’t contain “fortunes” anyway, just little sayings like “you are
careful and systematic in business arrangements,” or “your happiness is
intertwined with your outlook on life.” A real fortune is supposed to
predict something that will happen to you in the future.
I don’t much care for the taste of fortune cookies, so I
don’t usually eat them. I do read the messages though. They
provide a bit of entertainment, especially when I’m dining with a group of
people who take turns reading them out loud.
I’m not usually superstitious, that is I don’t have a lot of
irrational beliefs, that I know of, but I like to play a little game with
myself. I don’t eat the cookies with the sayings inside. If the
cookie has a fortune I don’t like, I don’t eat it. If I like
the fortune, I eat the cookie. I play this game where I’ve decided the
“fortune” is more likely to come true if I eat the cookie.
I ate the cookie containing, “you will have happiness in your home”
without a second thought. However, I really had to face my
superstition head on when I encountered a fortune that read, “and you shall
be above want”. Oh my, how much better could it get? Above want…
After quickly gobbling my cookie, I sat back and thought about what I had
just done, about being superstitious and about the meaning of my fortune.
How could anyone wish for more than to be above want. My first thought
was, I would have everything I have ever wanted. Then it hit me,
already having everything I want might not be such a good thing. To be
above want meant I would no longer want anything. To stop wanting
means I’m dead. I may just as well stay in bed for the rest of my life
because there’s no reason to get up.
Now what do I do. I’ve already eaten the darn cookie.
I’m experiencing a heavy-duty conflict here. It seems I have two
choices. I can stay in bed for the rest of my life, or I can discard
my superstition. Well, I’m not dead yet, and I’m not confined to my
bed. I also don’t eat fortune cookies because I don’t like the taste
of them.
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