After having kids I understand superstition as the alpha & omega of the rational faculty— “irrationality” of the sort that sublates superstition is only available to metacognition & direct revelation. It is not obvious that ghosts do not exist.
Real atheism (lack of superstitious belief in the power of immaterial entities like the heavenly bodies, astrology, etc) is only possible through a purification of superstition imposing a “superstition against superstition”— there is no “rational” reason to not believe in UFO demon reptilian alien dmt elves etc
It comes down to having faith in the reality of a world— that there are not ghosts, there is no magic, there is only the more mysterious thing, the real, the concrete, which is more “irrational” than the belief that “nothing is real.”
Dominance of reason is identical in effect to obsessive compulsive disorder. In fact, in the clinical literature on OCD, “rationalization” only produces a feedback loop with OCD. The only way out is simply “tuning out” the superstitious compulsions. Not even acknowledging them.
“Western mysticism” lends itself to this sort of OCD thinking— the only way out, truly, is Daoism & the sort of rhetorical armor crafted by Chan/Zen Buddhists against all the superstitious nonsense that the Buddhists kept bringing over from Hinduism etc
Rationality is the engine of idolatry, truly.
“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on earth.”
Línjì Yìxuán
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