Once I left a flower in front of the statue in a garden beside my family’s rented apartment.

It seemed like the right thing to do since I had just moved into the house, a sort of personal contribution to the garden. I felt stupid afterward, looking at the flower on the ground, but the statue had an angry-looking smirk on its face and I found myself slightly nervous. Weeks later, watering again, I left the same garden to find that my right shoe was filled with many of those same purple flowers. They filled my hands as I looked at the statue incredulously.

“You did this, didn’t you?” I asked the statue, halfway serious. It looked like maybe it was joking. I could have sworn it looked amused.

People believe many things with differing degrees of seriousness. In middle school I heard a man whistling while in the bathroom, but it was probably the choir class across the hall. Without delay, I started a rumor that the fifth floor bathroom was haunted, which spread much faster than I had expected. Soon there were stories about monsters coming out of the air vents, Bloody Mary, and all sorts of exciting things. I consider starting that rumor one of my higher achievements and I take great pride in it.

My middle school haunted bathroom escapades are a small-scale example of a larger phenomenon: people like to entertain the idea that superstitions are real. Even if they don’t entirely believe them, they still have no trouble acting as though something exists, just in case. People wish on shooting stars and other equally inconsequential things and hope for something that they actually want. They may not think in a logical way that it will make their wish come true, but the possibility is more than enough to convince them to practice their superstitions. Belief is easy to induce because it’s natural. It is in our interest to believe. If somebody says, “Hey, there’s a bear in that cave,” and you don’t listen, you probably will be in great danger.

Fearing the unknown is one of our most natural instincts. Wishing and doing things that you think are “good luck” aren’t quite as basic and animalistic as doing something to avoid possible danger, but I believe both are rooted in the same instinct. Generally speaking, fear is the most important feeling for individual survival because it keeps us out of harm’s way. In many cases, superstitions are just an extension of that fear. If there is a chance that something is dangerous and superstition can help us avoid it, then we will believe in it, at least a little. There’s so much to actually fear that people have little trouble believing things that may not be true.

We know that beliefs make sense in terms of survival, but do they really make sense when we’re experiencing them? What constitutes belief, really? It isn’t always something that can be described as a logical thought process, at least not as I understand it. Even when people don’t actually think something is real, they still might have a reaction to it, like a skeptic fearing a ghost story. Does the skeptic really believe in ghosts just because he or she reacts to the story? Or is it only a reaction that has nothing to do with what they actually think about ghosts? Mostpeople don’t believe that spilling salt will bring bad luck, but that doesn’t mean that some won’t toss it over their shoulder anyway. What is it that can actually be considered belief?

In my view, belief is when something affects you to the point where you change the way you behave in order to accommodate it. At that point whatever you believe is practically real because it affects your behavior. One of the reasons I think religious beliefs evoke such strong emotions is the amount of action involved. While there can be overlap between religious belief and superstition, the former often involves a great deal more “doing” than the latter. Often religious beliefs involve codes and rules that must be followed. The two also differ in that religious beliefs tend to apply moral ideas beyond simply beliefs, and involve a more complete system of ideas and values. Believing things about the creation of the universe is bound to produce different effects than superstitions about luck that can exist with no strings attached. Religious beliefs include incredibly powerful ideas. I am in awe of the strength of ideas. Ideas like the ones involved in religious belief and superstition may be the closest thing the average human has to bending reality; imagining a world that ascribes to something beyond scientific rules. It’s no wonder that superstitions are so widespread. Not only do they play into our natural survival instincts but they also lend credence to the idea that our hopes and dreams may someday be fulfilled.

When you believe in something beyond what you can observe, it can give you a sense of order when faced with things you can’t understand. It can lend a feeling of control over the uncontrollable. Belief in dangerous things could potentially save your life. Believing in positive things can lend conviction and confidence. Often people find it easier to succeed when carrying a good luck charm. Even if you don’t believe in anything beyond the realm of science, it is obvious that belief is a powerful force.