Why do People Believe Weird Things?

Why do People Believe Weird Things?

Until now, I don’t really know why people believe weird things. No matter how educated we are or no matter how technologically advanced we are nowadays, we still have this part of ourselves that delve into these strange things or unusual phenomena. Yes, we still believe in fortune telling, ghosts and apparitions, native folklores, alien sightings and invasions. Mind you these are just a few of what we can consider strange things. There are still a hundred or a thousand more strange things out there and people in all parts of the world somehow still believe them.

Being born from the 80’s I should consider myself being someone who grew up in the more advanced generation. Yet, no matter how modern my environment could be, I still believe that some sickness can be cured by faith healers. Or, I still sometimes suspect that nasty pimples or horrible skin irritations uncured by medicated soaps or expensive creams might be a spell cast by some witch. To my way of thinking and based upon my personal experience, the reason why I believe these things is because of our upbringing and the environment we live in. I also believe that people surrounding us within our community like our friends, or sometimes even our own family could really make a huge influence on our beliefs.

Stories of premonitions, apparitions of a deceased family member, scent of flowers or candles would always suffice when there is death in the family. Being a member of that family, no matter how logical you think, we sometimes tend to just believe that somehow, there is truth behind these stories. Coming from a person close to you is sometimes more than enough for us to consider the possibility of it being real.

Whether we deny it or not, there is a part of our mind that is most of the time vulnerable to these beliefs. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it as long as we know how to differentiate practical things from the strange ones.