Continuing to research I came across the most beautiful and haunting quote about superstition. I discovered this quote at the top of a report on ‘The Effects of Stress and Desire for Control on Superstitious Behaviour, Goria Keinan, 2002’. Whilst this is very much from the past, I feel the essence of the quote fits well with my work and from my research I think this message lives on today.
Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man’s nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do it with safety.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832
Although he was part of the Enlightenment, Von Goethe still saw a place for superstition in humanity. This most beautiful and haunting quote talks about being inherent in mans nature, the way it is worded almost takes superstition as something that is outside of us, not within. A force or creature that lives besides us as a separate entity.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Biography, Works, Faust, & Facts | Britannica
By Joseph Karl Stieler – Transferred from nds.wikipedia to Commons..org by G.Meiners at 12:05, 15. Okt 2005., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=375657