Magical Beliefs Research Articles

On messianic links

AbstractThe messianic structure of human experience is manifest in the form of waiting—for an object who will alleviate suffering, and thereby, bring about change. The underpinning of such waiting is imagined here as messianic hope. In individuals, families, cults, religion, and politics, we may detect such hope—one that perhaps makes the unbearability of life bearable. This longing may get concretized in the shape of a person who comes to represent a link with God. From different vertices, messianic power may get located in the analyst, patriarch, the godman, or the political leader. Links that get forged between such figures and those who are waiting, may be thought of as messianic links. As a messianic group gets consolidated, it often displays certain primitive features. Such groups tend to veer towards a display of omnipotence, resolute action, a solution‐driven language. They may seek to cut off contact with painful reality and anoint someone who can enable that. Ideas of time are wrenched away from its painful association with loss. Time is made predictable and repetitive. Deliverance is promised, incertitude discarded. Messianic language is often evocative and enigmatic. It can be an expression of impotency. But language may also be used to fuel omnipotent longing, as with the use of omniscience by the anointed messiah. Such messianic groups may come together with shared magical beliefs in the annointed figure. But links by their very nature are dynamic and so, a link fueled by awe may also devolve into paranoia or else dependency or may be discarded altogether. This paper looks at two documentaries, and a novel, to give shape to messianic links. Here we see instances of how enigma may be replaced by charisma, and strength by hypervigilance. In that sense it seems that regardless of how they originate, they are condemned to move towards what Bion (1962) calls “minus links” or links that lead away from truth and the growth of the mind. We see that messianic links may either end catastrophically, or decay and degenerate to the point of disappearing, or else, lose the kernel, but assiduously preserve the shell, or finally institutionalized as deifying links.

Preliminary Examination of Sympathetic Magic as a Psychological Endophenotype for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Although sympathetic magic (SM) beliefs (i.e., irrational understanding of contagion transmission) are observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it is unclear if such beliefs are psychological endophenotypes. Furthermore, predictors of SM beliefs in OCD remain unknown. Accordingly, the present study examined whether SM beliefs function as an endophenotype for OCD and whether perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) contributes to SM beliefs. A sample of 30 individuals with OCD, 26 first-degree relatives, and 25 age-matched healthy controls completed self-report questionnaires and a SM task where we touched a clean pencil to a “contaminated” toilet, and rated the degree to which the pencil was contaminated. A second pencil was touched to the first pencil and was then rated. This process was continued for 12 pencils (12 degrees of removal from contagion). Results revealed no significant differences in the extent to which the three groups perceived a “chain of contagion” (i.e., contamination slopes) for the successive degrees of removal from the original contagion. However, the OCD group reported significantly less contamination reduction on the task, a group difference that was mediated by PVD. These findings suggest that although SM beliefs may not be an OCD endophenotype, such beliefs may derive from a PVD.

Indonesian Local Literary Rituals in Magical Realism

This study aims to find magical realism in the Bantengan performance, find namely the irreducible elements, the phenomenal world, merging realms, the unsettling doubts, and disruptions of time, space, and identity at the Bantengan show. The method used to reveal these aspects is a qualitative method with an ethnographic approach. Theoretically, this research finds magical realism. Practically for researchers, this research is expected to broaden scientific horizons and can be used as a guide to carry out research, especially about traditions that develop in society. For the community, this research is expected to provide an overview of the actual Bantengan performance and provide knowledge to the public that the art of Bantengan contains the meaning of a performance that contains the value of magical realism. The results of this study: 1. The irreducible elements namely Cakepan in the art of bantengan are read as if telling the figure of a bull in the performance arena, furthermore it is used as advice and a medium for conveying messages to the public. 2. the phenomenal world, namely the movements in the Banteng symbolizing the life of the Banteng animal as an authoritative and strong base or forest animal, 3. merging realms, namely between types of religious magical beliefs and Islam there is a harmonious blend, as seen by the reading of prayers that derived from the verses of the Koran at the ceremony, 4. the unsettling doubts, namely the public's belief is still visible in the giving of offerings or offerings before holding a bantengan presentation, 5. disruptions of time, space and identity namely Bantengan and ndadi being one of the elements of the show that cannot be separated, so that it becomes a special attraction for the community.

Ternate Sultanate Palace: A Multifaceted Hub at the Crossroads of Culture and Politics

Historically, sultans have always had living space (lebenschraum habitus). In the Sultanate of Ternate, the living space of the sultans was the kadaton (palace) which since its birth was organized according to the philosophical cosmology constructed in a person’s customs. The palace (kadaton) as the basis of political legitimacy means that the palace is not merely the residence of the king and his relatives, but it is also seen as the state itself (exemplary state), so that in the history of its development, the palace has become an institution of power that politically has the same weight as the institution nobility itself. This research aims to 1) to reveal the Myth of the Seven Princesses: Source of Legitimacy, and 2) to reveal how the Sultan’s palace strengthened the Cultural and Political Center. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The result of this research revealed that the Sultanate of Ternate attempted to build and maintain its power base based on three factors. First, geopolitics, which causes the palace to have a traditional identity position that is closely related to the source of magical beliefs. Second, the doctrine of power, the palace has a central doctrine which makes the king the representative of God’s power (micro cosmos). Third, the basis of aristocratic power centered on cultural hegemony.

“We Live in the Country of the Victorious Kafka”: Witchcraft and Magic in Present-Day Russia

This article examines the problems associated with witchcraft and magical beliefs in contemporary Russia. It analyzes media discourse in online publication, video streams, social networks, and comments in public media resources in which ordinary people and social and political elites describe and discuss witchcraft and paranormal beliefs and rituals. The paper talks about magic in a broad sense, including esotericism, occultism, astrology, divination, parapsychology, and so on, as people engaging with these issues understand it. The paper discusses the following facts and trends: (1) the Russian media contain many references to magical rituals, which suggests people’s interest in the topics of magic and witchcraft, esotericism, and occultism; (2) Russian public media and social networks discuss magic and witchcraft among celebrities and elites; (3) in a context of political instability, narratives of magic and conspiracy theories are incorporated into the official propaganda to create a negative image of the enemy and form moral panics, on the one hand, and to create a positive image of Russia, its power, and its future, on the other hand; (4) the state media broadcast this narrative of magic to the wider society, where it is contaminated with the grassroots witchcraft narrative and keeps it in a “working” state; (5) The result is grassroots denunciations, accusations, and new rumors of magic and witchcraft among political and economic elites.

Review of the Epilepsy, Including Its Causes, Symptoms, Biomarkers, and Management

Epilepsy is a long-term medical disorder that frequently causes unpredictable, unprovoked repeated seizures that have an impact on both physical and mental abilities. It is among the most prevalent neurological conditions. Greek term epilambanein, which is the root of the English word epilepsy, means "to be seized." Both the sickness and the one-time attack were meant by this. The word refers to the magical beliefs of the time, which led to the stigma associated with epilepsy because people with epilepsy were seen to be dirty or bad. A recent study found that nearly 90% of the 70 million epileptics worldwide live in developing countries. Genetic testing has expanded the possibility of figuring out the aetiology of different types of epilepsies. It needs some prior clinical application knowledge to complete this challenging endeavour. Genetic testing techniques include chromosome microarray analysis, karyotyping, single-gene testing, gene panel testing, whole exome sequencing, and whole genome sequencing. The allegedly first documented account of epilepsy, as it was then perceived and understood, may be found in one of the earliest Babylonian medical manuals, Sakikku (English translation: "All Diseases"), which dates from around 1050 BC. The pathogenesis, aetiology, treatment, biomarkers, and risk factors for epilepsy are reviewed in this review article.

“МАНАС” ЭПОСУНДАГЫ АКЫРЕТКЕ УЗАТУУ ЫРЫМ-ЖЫРЫМДАРЫ ЖАНА ЫНАНЫМ-ИШЕНИМДЕРИ

The article examines the ancient mythological ideas of the Kyrgyz people, as well as the Turkic Mughal peoples about the belief in ghosts, as well as Myths and legends found in the epic "Manas" (S. Orozbakov, S. Karalaev, M. M. Chokmorova). At the same time, the epic tells how the ghost of fallen heroes, in order to protect their people, their offspring, when heroes die on the battlefield, why they do not throw their enemies to the ground when they fight, with all their might take the hero's body out of the hands of their enemies and what danger his descendants pose if his the corpse remains in the hands of the enemies. Based on the epic "Manas", along with an analysis of magical beliefs about why the hero Manas was given to a secret place, attempts to alleviate sin in this world when a person enters the afterlife, rituals in which, along with the Islamic religion, early beliefs are intertwined, as well as a person's worldview along with classical ones are given in relative order. variants of the epic "Manas".

‘A Web of Complex Relations’: Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Botany and Sab (1841)

This article offers an ecocritical reading of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda’s novel Sab (1841) informed by the religious, magical beliefs attributed to the wilderness or ‘monte’ as recorded in Lydia Cabrera’s classic ethnography, El Monte (1954). It goes on to contextualize the novel within the botanical studies published in Cuba in the 1820s and 1830s, notably the work of Alexander von Humboldt and Ramón de la Sagra, to which Avellaneda may have had access through the Sociedad de los Amigos del País in Puerto Príncipe.

Darkest forests and highest mountains: the witches’ sabbath and landscapes of fear in early modern demonologies

ABSTRACT Between the mid-fifteenth and late seventeenth centuries, Europe saw a flurry of demonological texts by theologians and jurists, outlining the beliefs, theology and prosecution methods for accused witches at the peak of the European witch craze. While these texts have been at the heart of many examinations of the history of early modern witchcraft for their presentation of magical belief, demonologies also provide vital windows into early modern concepts of space and landscape. By examining demonologies for their discussions of the sites of the witches’ sabbath, patterns emerge in the relationship between marginal spaces and fantasies of the sabbath. Spaces at the margins of the early modern world became the settings of imaginary gatherings of witches and demons, where the anxieties of the authors and the common people at the heart of their narratives could manifest and build upon one another across centuries.

ЧУДЕСА ВО ФЛОРИЩЕВОЙ ПУСТЫНИ И КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЕ НАРРАТИВА О ЧУДЕ В РОССИИ XVIII В.

In 18th-century Russia the Synodal Church and the secular authorities made considerable efforts to eradicate parishioners’ superstitions and impious practices. There were not only cases of magical beliefs and heresies that attracted the attention of investigative authorities and the inquisition court but also people divulging miracles and eschatological visions. The paper deals with 50 investigative cases (most of them have not been previously explored) from national archives in Moscow and St Petersburg, and the state archives of the Yaroslavl and Rostov regions. All these cases include stories about miraculous visions, revelations or healings. The study attempts to identify some typical traits of the structure, the figurative system of narratives about miracles, their etiological components, and their circulation in the borderlands of folklore culture and church literature.

Up, Up, and Away: Individual Differences in Imaginative Involvement and Magical Beliefs Relate to Perceiving and Desiring Supernatural Powers

Human beings have relished the idea of possessing supernatural/superhuman powers for millennia. However, do some people desire such powers more than others based on specific individual differences and characteristics? We examined how individual differences in imaginative involvement (fantasy proneness, absorption) and magical beliefs (superstitiousness and religiousness) uniquely related to desire for 12 supernatural powers (final N = 143); participants also rated the supernaturalness of each power and how much they believed humans possess/will possess each power. These individual differences, as predicted, consistently correlated with the desire for supernatural powers and the belief that humans may possess these powers in the future. After controlling for sci-fi and fantasy narrative consumption, only absorption and superstitiousness (chance subscale) uniquely related to desire for supernatural powers; and only absorption uniquely predicted the belief that humans do/would possess these powers. Ultimately, there are important individual differences in desire and perception of supernatural powers.

The Role of Ritual in Children’s Acquisition of Supernatural Beliefs

This study investigated how observing the ritualisation of objects can influence children’s encoding and defence of supernatural beliefs. Specifically, we investigated if ritualising objects leads children to believe those objects might be magical, buffering against favouring contrary evidence. Seventy-nine children, aged between 3 and 6 years, were presented with two identical objects (e.g., two colour-changing stress balls) and tasked with identifying which was magical after being informed that one had special properties (e.g., could make wishes come true). In a Ritual condition, an adult acted on one of the objects using causally irrelevant actions and on the other using functional actions. In an Instrumental condition, both objects were acted on with functional actions. The children were given a normative rule relating to the use of the objects and an opportunity to imitate the actions performed on them. A second adult then challenged their magical belief. Ritualistic actions increased the likelihood of children attributing magical powers to the associated object but did not affect resistance to change or adherence to normative rules. However, children who engaged in ritual actions protested more when the magical belief was challenged. Our findings suggest that rituals can play an important role in shaping children’s perception and defence of supernatural beliefs.

COVID-19 VACCINATION IN CHILDREN: AN UPDATE FOR THE NEW ERA OF COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, it is imperative to vaccinate most people, including children, to achieve herd immunity against the pandemic. Since parents are the ones who ultimately decide whether to vaccinate their children, this viewpoint was conducted to determine parents' acceptance and reluctance to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. This viewpoint aims to identify the predictors and ethical considerations of childhood vaccination. Several predictive factors contribute to the decision to accept or refuse the COVID-19 vaccine for children. Predictor factors that influence the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in children are citizen trust in government, conspiratorial beliefs, intention of parents, psychological reactance, and magical beliefs. Ethical considerations must also be considered, because this is very important. Ethical considerations that may be a dilemma for vaccine acceptance such as autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

MYTHIC PLOT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NOVEL COMPOSITION

This article shows that the artistic structure of the work in modern Uzbek novels is built on the basis of an ancient myth (for example, the ancient myth about the "tree of life" in the novel "Chinar" by Asqad Mukhtar), the mythological plot serves as a criterion for describing the mental state of the hero (for example, in the novel "Mahmud Torabi" by Asad Dilmurod The myth of Ulgan and Erlik), the construction of the interpretation of time and space on the basis of a mythopoetic model (for example, the novels of Amon Mukhtar), the absorption of the essence of the mythological image into the character of the hero (for example, the novel "Shokh" by Shoyim Botaev) is about the meeting of different types of mythology. Images related to mythopoetic thinking in modern Uzbek novels include the introduction of the ethnopoetic context related to archaic ceremonies, paintings and rituals that express the ancient mythological beliefs of our ancestors, stylization of myth plots and motives, images related to totemistic, animistic and magical beliefs and It consists in researching such forms as the poetic transformation of symbols and ethnic mythology, that is, the use of myth plots and mythologemes related to the poetic thinking of other peoples and peoples.

Healthy-unhealthy animal detection using semi-supervised generative adversarial network.

Animal illness is a disturbance in an animal's natural condition that disrupts or changes critical functions. Concern over animal illnesses stretches back to the earliest human interactions with animals and is mirrored in early religious and magical beliefs. Animals have long been recognized as disease carriers. Man has most likely been bitten, stung, kicked, and gored by animals for as long as he has been alive; also, early man fell ill or died after consuming the flesh of deceased animals. Man has recently learned that numerous invertebrates are capable of transferring disease-causing pathogens from man to man or from other vertebrates to man. These animals, which function as hosts, agents, and carriers of disease, play a significant role in the transmission and perpetuation of human sickness. Thus, there is a need to detect unhealthy animals from a whole group of animals. In this study, a deep learning-based method is used to detect or separate out healthy-unhealthy animals. As the dataset contains a smaller number of images, an image augmentation-based method is used prior to feed the data in the deep learning network. Flipping, scale-up, sale-down and orientation is applied in the combination of one to four to increase the number of images as well as to make the system robust from these variations. One fuzzy-based brightness correction method is proposed to correct the brightness of the image. Lastly, semi-supervised generative adversarial network (SGAN) is used to detect the healthy-unhealthy animal images. As per our knowledge, this is the first article which is prepared to detect healthy-unhealthy animal images. The outcome of the method is tested on augmented COCO dataset and achieved 91% accuracy which is showing the efficacy of the method. A novel two-fold animal healthy-unhealthy detection system is proposed in this study. The result gives 91.4% accuracy of the model and detects the health of the animals in the pictures accurately. Thus, the system improved the literature on healthy-unhealthy animal detection techniques. The proposed approach may effortlessly be utilized in many computer vision systems that could be confused by the existence of a healthy-unhealthy animal.

Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos

Many thousands of burials have been excavated from across the Roman world, documenting a variety of funerary practices and rites. Individual burials, however, sometimes stand out for their atypical characteristics. The authors report the discovery of a cremation burial from ancient Sagalassos that differs from contemporaneous funerary deposits. In this specific context, the cremated human remains were not retrieved but buried in situ, surrounded by a scattering of intentionally bent nails, and carefully sealed beneath a raft of tiles and a layer of lime. For each of these practices, textual and archaeological parallels can be found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean world, collectively suggesting that magical beliefs were at work.

Magic, Religion, and Science: Secularization Trends and Continued Coexistence

AbstractWhile multiple studies have applied cultural evolutionary perspectives to the study of religion, few studies have examined the cultural evolutionary dynamics of a more secretive but equally ubiquitous form of supernatural belief: magic. We conducted two studies, an American nationally representative survey and a comparative phylogenetic analysis of religious traditions, to test three hypothesized cultural evolutionary drivers for beliefs in magic. We find the greatest support for the hypothesis that magic is employed when it provides its users benefits that are distinct from those provided by either science or religion, some support for secularization (broadly conceived) trends applying to magic, and no evidence that innate and unavoidable features of human cognition are primary drivers of the cultural evolution of magical beliefs. We conclude by suggesting specific hypothesized benefits for magic that may account for the evolution of humanity's facultative (i.e., context‐dependent) use of magical beliefs.

Who are the chiropractic students favouring a limitless scope of practice? Exploring the relationship with personality, magical thinking, and academic achievement

IntroductionSome chiropractors seem to have an inflated belief in the powers of spinal manipulation (SMT), for example aiming at preventing future spinal degeneration and health problems, activities that are without supporting evidence. Non-evidenced health beliefs have been shown to be associated with a tendency toward magical thinking. Holding such beliefs about SMT is associated with a limitless scope of practice (LLSoP). Recent studies have shown that “chiropractic conservatism” (ChiroCon) is also associated with such approaches. We wanted to understand ChiroCon and these attitudes toward SMT by exploring three different factors: intolerance to uncertainty, academic achievement, and tendency toward magical thinking and how they relate to ChiroCon and LLSoP.MethodA cross-sectional survey of 243 chiropractic students from an Australian chiropractic program was conducted in May 2020. Students answered a questionnaire involving a patient case-scenario for LLSoP, levels of ChiroCon, validated questionnaires on (i) Intolerance of uncertainty, (ii) Academic achievement, and (iii) Magical thinking. LLSoP was defined as wanting to treat with SMT a 5-year-old asymptomatic child for future (i) Musculoskeletal (MSK) problems and/or (ii) Non-musculoskeletal diseases. Logistic regression models were used to confirm if there was an association between ChiroCon and LLSoP and to explore associations between LLSoP and (i) Intolerance of uncertainty, (ii) Academic achievement, and (iii) Magical thinking. We repeated the same analyses using ChiroCon as the outcome variable.ResultsWe confirmed that chiropractic students in the more extreme ChiroCon group were more likely to want to prevent future spinal disorders in an asymptomatic 5-year-old child as compared to those with lower levels (OR = 3.9, (95%CI 1.97–7.72). This was also the case for the prevention of future diseases in the same child (OR = 6.9, (95%CI 3.11–15.06). Of the three predictor variables, magical belief was positively associated with both ChiroCon and LLSoP.ConclusionNot surprisingly, ChiroCon is closely related to LLSoP and both were linked to magical thinking. Therefore, the questionnaire ‘Magical Health Beliefs’ could be a useful instrument to screen future chiropractic students to prevent a mismatch between student and institution. Depending on the outlook of the school, some schools would welcome these students, whereas other institutions would want to avoid them in their education program.

Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World

Although magical beliefs (such as belief in luck and precognition) are presumably universal, the extent to which such beliefs are embraced likely varies across cultures. We assessed the effect of culture on luck and precognition beliefs in two large-scale multinational studies (Study 1: k = 16, N = 17,664; Study 2: k = 25, N = 4,024). Over and above the effects of demographic factors, culture was a significant predictor of luck and precognition beliefs in both studies. Indeed, when culture was added to demographic models, the variance accounted for in luck and precognition beliefs approximately doubled. Belief in luck and precognition was highest in Latvia and Russia (Study 1) and South Asia (Study 2), and lowest in Protestant Europe (Studies 1 and 2). Thus, beyond the effects of age, gender, education, and religiosity, culture is a significant factor in explaining variance in people’s belief in luck and precognition. Follow-up analyses found a relatively consistent effect of socio-economic development, such that belief in luck and precognition were more prevalent in countries with lower scores on the Human Development Index. There was also some evidence that these beliefs were stronger in more collectivist cultures, but this effect was inconsistent. We discuss the possibility that there are culturally specific historical factors that contribute to relative openness to such beliefs in Russia, Latvia, and South Asia.

Doa dan Wirid Al-A’la Sebagai Metode Sufi Healing (Praktek Batatamba Guru Arni)

<p class="07KatakunciKeywords">Sufi Healing is an alternative medicine for the community in overcoming physical, psychological and magical diseases. Belief in magic that causes physical and psychological problems in a person is still a strong belief for the Banjar people. The <em>Wirid Al-A'la</em> prayer as one of the Sufi healing methods is used by Guru Arni to overcome this problem. The collaboration of the <em>Batamba</em> and Sufistic Guru Arni methods is a unique Sufi healing method. The findings of the data through interviews and observations from deeper exploration of Sufi healing will be analysed descriptively. The results showed that the people of Banjar make prayer and <em>wirid Al-A'la</em> as an alternative medicine because of the integration between <em>Batamba</em> medicine and Sufism. Healing from magical diseases is claimed by the people of Banjar thanks to the collaborative method used by Guru Arni. <em>Batamba</em> is a treatment by prioritizing the values of local wisdom while Sufism is a Sufism approach used in the treatment process. These findings confirm that using a cultural approach in the treatment process can help the community in overcoming a number of problems. The Sufistic nuance is deepened so that people are not trapped in matters of faith.</p>