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I have been asked many times as why I am
such a slow reader. There may be two possible
reasons for this; either the material is
not good enough to keep my attention and
my mind wanders off to other things or because
it is so good that the words give me more
than their meanings; they give me ideas outside
their scope…
My imagination sometimes becomes loaded so
strongly that what I call a catapult effect
occurs so that when it starts a swing there
is no stopping it. But, as I said, that doesn't
happen with just any writer, for there are
only few good writers who write clearly because
they believe in the power of their ideas
and do not want to obscure the meaning with
unnecessary words or fancy styles…I will
give you an example: Jepson is one of those
writers and here is a passage from his book
called 'Clear Thinking' :
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2. Cause And Effect
After observing, sorting and classifying,
noting common properties and formulating
general rules or tendencies, the next natural
step in the advancement of knowledge is trying
to account for things. When we have discovered
that things generally happen in a certain
way, we very naturally want to know why.
Experience tells us that every event has
a cause, and will be followed by an effect;
natural curiosity impels us to try to trace
effects to causes; natural desire to plan
our future—to avoid failures and to repeat
successes— impels us to try to forecast the
effect of causes.
Because an effect is the consequent of a
cause, and a cause the antecedent to an effect,
we are apt to assume that two events or conditions,
one of which precedes or follows the other
in point of time, are causally connected.
This is an error to which ignorant and superstitious
people are especially prone. A man walks
under a ladder and soon afterwards is run
over and killed; superstitious people will
tell you he was killed because he walked
under the ladder. The temptation to fall
into this error is especially strong when
one or other or both of the occurrences are
more than ordinarily striking; or when there
is apparently a constant recurrence of similar
happenings in conjunction. Then even the
sceptic may begin to think that " the
long arm of coincidence " has been stretched
too far and he may be tempted to suspect
that "there may be something in it after
all."
And so there may be; but we are not justified
in asserting that there is, until further
trial has been made. We must first ask ourselves,
" Does the so-called cause adequately
explain the effect?
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And here is where my imagination kicks in.
I am going to try to put some creativity
in here to show what kind of ideas my imagination
might come up with. By the way I am called
Max by my friends.
So, it may take a long time for me to finish
reading such writers but when I finish I
am not quite the same…
| Mr. Jepson: |
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Now, I want one of my students to do his
best in trying to find
a connection. Max how about you?
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| Me: |
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- Me, sir?
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| Mr. Jepson: |
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-Yes, just do your best.
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| Me: |
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-Well, there may be what's called a domino
effect here. A ladder is a tool used for
the purpose of climbing to high places and
so the presence of a ladder may well be an
indication that people are present, above
head height, if you like. And thus there is a
possibility that some object may fall from
above. An unconscious thought might distract
a pedestrian who walks under it and cause
him to make an error, like while crossing
the road.
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(Here Mr. Jepson becomes quiet for a moment.)
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| Mr. Jepson: |
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Well, you have just made something out of
nothing Max.
Well done kid! However, I would like to elaborate
on the subject
a little further if you don't mind.
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| Me: |
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- I'm honored to be talking to you, Sir,
and proud to have attracted your attention.
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| Mr. Jepson: |
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- Thank you, but that does not mean I will
not criticize you.
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| Me: |
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- I would rather that you did, Sir ! I often
try to criticize my
own ideas.
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| Mr. Jepson: |
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- Now, you think there might be something
to superstition, after all?
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| Me: |
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- I think superstition might be ancient wisdom
in disguise. A shortcut to get quick results. Like the
formulas of modern men. What result could
a wise elderly man get if he tried to explain
to a child the danger of walking under a
ladder in a way similar to my explanation
above? Or the negative effects of seeing
a black cat at night ; the ghostlike appearance
of its eyes only, on the mind (This seems
to work equally well for the superstition
of seeing an owl or looking into a broken
mirror at night).
Again, the fact that some people find it
helpful to sing or talk aloud when afraid;
like when walking by a graveyard may come
from a superstition which in turn may have
resulted from a precaution to ward off any
scavenger that might be about (for graves
in old times would not have been as solid
as the modern ones and it's very likely that
scavengers took advantage of this). We now
know that the human voice is a cause for
fear to the wild animals such as wild boars
or bears.
Or again, the dislike for number 13 could
well have arisen from the fact that it comes
after 12 and therefore spoils the dozen which
is rather practical in counting.¹
It is similar regarding the superstition
concerning Fridays (the reluctance to do
anything important on that day) ? Can the
expression "TGIF" (Thank God It's
Friday) give us some clue in that it reveals
the lazy nature of man so that the Friday
superstition is perhaps an unsuccessful attempt
to increase the number of rest days in a
week to three..?
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| Mr. Jepson: |
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- Is there anything else you would like to
tell us on this?
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| Me: |
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I am not trying to say the above explanations
are correct; they may or may not be. There
may well be other explanations that work
equally well. But we do not have solid ground
to accuse the old for being foolish because
they were superstitious. For there is a general
tendency to underestimate the old because
we think since we are modern we should be
wiser…
It seems unlikely to me that the old would
value things out of which he could not get
direct results.
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