Citations & Reference:"'We are so afraid of being called Puritans, instead of going forward, we walk backwards,' said the frog to a colleague, as he came out from his coconut shell, sunbathing by the pool," the Moon began her comment, as she got out, after saying Basmalah and Salam. "This step back, is not a bowstring pulling to release arrows, but a continuous step backwards until someone slips into the pond," added the frog. "Now, let me tell you about what is happening, in a certain pond.To say that superstition is one of the facts of history, is only to state a Truism. If that were all, we might treat the subject from a purely philosophical or historical point of view, as one of the inexplicable phenomena of an age much lower in intelligence, than our own, and there, leave it.But if, also, we must admit superstition to be a present, a living, fact, influencing, if not controlling, the everyday acts of men, we have to deal with a problem as yet unsolved, if not insolvable.Superstition, we know, is much older than recorded history, and we now stand on the threshold of the twenty-firsth century; yet just in proportion as humanity has passed over this enormous space of time, hand in hand with progress, superstition has followed it like its shadow. That shadow has not yet passed away.There is no sort of use in denying the proneness of weak human nature to admit superstition. It is an open door, through which the marvellous finds easy access. Imbibed in the cradle, it is not even buried in the grave. 'Age cannot stale, nor custom wither' those ancient fables of ghosts, giants, goblins, and brownies told by fond mothers to children to-day, just as they were told by mothers centuries ago.Someone said—sorry to say—that the greatest of all annual festivals, the world over, would remain if Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, and St. Nicholas were stripped of their traditional, but wholly fictitious, character. Even the innocent looking Easter egg, which continues to enjoy such unbounded popularity with old and young, comes of an old Aryan myth ; while the hanging up of one's stocking, at Christmas, is neither more nor less than an act of superstition, originating in another myth ; or, in plain English, no Santa Claus, no stocking.The seed first planted in virgin soil later bears an abundant harvest. Stage plays, operas, poetry, romances, painting, and sculpture, dealing with the supernatural command quite as great a popularity, to-day, as ever.Superstition is not easily defined. To say that it is a disposition to believe more than is warranted by reason, leaves us just as helpless as ever; for where reason is impotent we have nothing tangible left to fall back upon. There is absolutely no support on which to rest that lever. Some religion and philosophy, which at first fostered superstition, long ago turned against it all the forces they possessed. Not even science may hope to overthrow what can only be reached through the inner consciousness of man, because science can have little to do with the spiritual side of man. That intangible something still eludes its grasp. If all these combined forces of civilization have so far signally failed to eradicate superstition, so much the worse for civilization.We might also refer to the efforts of some very erudite scholars to interpret modern superstition by the aid of comparative mythology. Vastly interesting, if not wholly convincing, theories have been constructed on this line. Instructive, too, is the fact that some of our most familiar nursery stories may be traced to the ancient folk-lore of still older peoples. Even a remote antiquity is claimed for the familiar nursery tale of 'Jack and Jill'; while something very similar to the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood' is found, in its purity, in the grewsome werewolf folk-lore of Germany ; and 'Jonah's Gourd,' of the East, we are told, probably is the original of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' of the West.But, the very fact of the survival of all these hoary superstitions, some of them going back so far that all further trace is lost, certainly furnishes food for thought, since they seemingly enjoy as great a popularity as ever.Superstition being thus shown to be as old as human history, the question naturally arises, not how it may have originated in the Dark Ages, but how it has kept its hold so tenaciously throughout all the succeeding centuries down to our own time.Most peoples, barbarians even, believed in some sort of a future state, in the principle of good and evil, and of rewards and punishments. There needs no argument then, to account for the insatiable longing to pry into futurity, and to discover its hidden mysteries. The same idea unsettled the minds of former generations, nor can it be truthfully said to have disappeared before the vaunted wisdom of this utilitarian age. Like all forbidden fruit, this may be said to be the subject of greatest anxiety to weak human kind.What then is this talisman, with the aid of which we strive to penetrate the secrets of the world beyond us? 'Man being what he is, only a little lower than the angels,' who felt, endowed with the supernatural power of calling up at will mental images, of both the living and the dead, of building aircastles, and peopling them according to his fantasy, as well in Cathay as in Spain, of standing by the side of an absent friend on the summit of Mont Blanc, one moment among the snows, the next flitting through the garden spots of sunny Italy—if he is thus capable of transporting himself into an enchanted land by the mere exercise of the power of his imagination—what could better serve him as a medium of communication with the unknown, and what shall deter him from seeking to fathom its deepest mysteries ? Napoleon said truly that the imagination governs the universe. Every one has painted his own picture of heaven and hell as well as Dante or Milton, or the divine mysteries as truly as Leonardo or Murillo. Surely, the imagination could go no further.Of the present status of superstition, the most that can be truthfully said is that some of its worst forms are nearly or quite extinct, some are apparently on the wane, while those representing, perhaps, the widest extremes—the most puerile and the most vital, such, for example, as relate to vapid tea-table gossip on the one hand, and to fatal presentiments on the other, continue quite as active as ever. Uncivilized beings are now supposed to be the only ones who still hold to the belief in witchcraft, but there are still, modern beings, who believe in it.All these superstitious beliefs were solemnly bequeathed by the fathers to their children, under the sanction of a severe penal code, together with all the accumulated traditions of their own immediate ancestors. And in some form or other, whether masquerading under some thin disguise or foolish notion, superstition has continued from that day to this.One result of an observation in this field of research is, that women, if not by nature more superstitious than men, hold to these old beliefs much more tenaciously than men. In the country, it is the woman who is ready to quarrel with you, if, in some unguarded moment, you should venture to doubt the potency of her manifold signs. In the city, it is still the woman who presents her husband with some charm or other to be worn on his watch-chain, as a safeguard against disease, inconstancy, late hours, or other uncounted happenings of life, believing, as she does, more or less implicitly, in its traditional efficacy. In all that relates to marriage, too, women are usually most careful how they disregard any of the accepted dicta on a subject of so much concern to their future happiness, as will appear later on."The frog, stopped, then took and drank his lemon juice, then sang,Des yeux qui font baisser les miens[Eyes that gaze into mine]Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche[A laugh that is loses itself on his lips]Voila le portrait sans retouches[Behold the portrait, without retouching]De l'homme auquel j'appartiens![Of the man to whom I belong!]Quand il me prend dans ses bras[When he takes me into his arms]Il me parle l'a tout bas[He speaks to me softly]Je vois la vie en rose *)[I see 'life in pink']Suddenly, "And Cut!" the director appeared to give directions. "Great boss! We will upload this scene to Twipper, Yountube, Instakilo, Faceduck, Toktok and several other social media. Hopefully it will go viral, get lots of followers, and the Third Addendum we propose, can be granted.""Right-O!" the frog raised his thumb. "Next, Take Two!" said the director, "Cameraaa ... Actiooon!" and the camera is moved up, down, right and left.The the Moon said, "Rain handler, fortune telling, palmistry, astrology, clairvoyance, hypnotism, and even determining a certain day for decision making or inauguration, continue to thrive either as a means of getting a living, or of guilty or innocent diversion, leaving their mark upon the inner consciousness, just the same in one case as in the other.So much being undeniable, it stands with every honest inquirer after truth to look these facts in the face without blinking. Ignorance we dare not plead. The dictates of a sound common sense will not permit us to dismiss what we do not understand with a laugh, a shrug, or a sneer. 'To scold is not to answer.'Let us, at least, be honest about it. Indeed, in Superstition, there is a moral lesson, as well as a true moral lesson without Superstition. Therefore, Allah commands those who want to think, to exert their reasoning, pay attention to the symptoms, and find a common thread between the two, so that Aqeedah is not violated, and keeps them from slipping, not only into a pond, but also, into the the deepest abyss of Hell. Silence may be golden, but it makes no converts. And Allah knows best."
- Samuel Adams Drake, The Myths and Fables of To-day, Lee and Shepard
*) "La Vie en Rose" written by Edith Piaf
