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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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