Superstition - Class, Eductaion Or Gender!

[misterman21]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

[Thai at Heart]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

That would be a missed place belief in Karma. Thailand is buddhist.

[misterman21]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

That would be a missed place belief in Karma. Thailand is buddhist.

What would be a miss placed belief in karma - can you please explain

[Thai at Heart]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

That would be a missed place belief in Karma. Thailand is buddhist.

What would be a miss placed belief in karma - can you please explain

Well to cut a long story very short, being a POWERFUL person could be understood to mean that you have been an extremely good person in previous incarnations. Be good to get more good in the short run doesn't really work.

[tijnebijn]

Its just their way of life .

About the karma what goes around comes around , they always try to find

a reason not particular their own actions ..... I know what you might think ...

But heh its much worse in India you know ......

[misterman21]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

That would be a missed place belief in Karma. Thailand is buddhist.

What would be a miss placed belief in karma - can you please explain

Well to cut a long story very short, being a POWERFUL person could be understood to mean that you have been an extremely good person in previous incarnations. Be good to get more good in the short run doesn't really work.

Thanks for elaborating. So when thais send off their sons to be a monk for a few months and they - apparantley - believe they have made merit for the future (in this life), then they misunderstand as any credits are paid in the next life?

[Dustoff]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

I can see this thread going downhill in a handbasket and god told me that just as surely as he/she told GW to invade Iraq..

Superstition? If you have, as not one of the "undereducated masses", taken even a brief glance at the religions throughout history and to the present day, you surely realize that belief in supernatural beings/events/places are pretty much the norm in our admittedly primitive species.

But it is always someone else's beliefs that are "superstition", eh?

Joseph Campbell said it best:

"Only myths are true,

everything else is false."

[misterman21]

Its just their way of life .

About the karma what goes around comes around , they always try to find

a reason not particular their own actions ..... I know what you might think ...

But heh its much worse in India you know ......

I find that they do sort of reason that events are a consequence of their actions - but not directly related to the particular occurence. I mean, like if some sh*t happens today then it happened because of what they done last month or 10 years ago. Not because they didnt look to the right when driving their motorbike in front of that bus!

But my question remains - is it more believed by the poor and uneducated , particularly women - or thias in general?

Edited March 25, 2008 by misterman21

[misterman21]

Many thais i have encountered put almost everything that happens in their lives - good or bad - down to superstition. If something good happens then it is because they done x - if somethong bad happens then it is because they did or didnt do y.

I thought it was a thing mostly believed by the undereducated masses and more so amongst women. However, i have read reports recently regarding high ranking army and political figures consulting fortune tellers so i am not so sure !

I mean these people live their lives without any doubts about this stuff - or do they?

I can see this thread going downhill in a handbasket and god told me that just as surely as he/she told GW to invade Iraq..

Superstition? If you have, as not one of the "undereducated masses", taken even a brief glance at the religions throughout history and to the present day, you surely realize that belief in supernatural beings/events/places are pretty much the norm in our admittedly primitive species.

But it is always someone else's beliefs that are "superstition", eh?

Joseph Campbell said it best:

"Only myths are true,

everything else is false."

Some reasonable and informative replys to a seroius question - untill your post. the question relates to thai culture and superstition - not the definition or comparison to other religious superstitions or beliefs.

[mrtoad]

Its just their way of life .

About the karma what goes around comes around , they always try to find

a reason not particular their own actions ..... I know what you might think ...

But heh its much worse in India you know ......

I find that they do sort of reason that events are a consequence of their actions - but not directly related to the particular occurence. I mean, like if some sh*t happens today then it happened because of what they done last month or 10 years ago. Not because they didnt look to the right when driving their motorbike in front of that bus!

But my question remains - is it more believed by the poor and uneducated , particularly women - or thias in general?

It's difficult to really put a finger on it, as many powerful, rich and educated people from all different cultures can be very superstitious. I suppose that it has evolved over the years, and if a parent is superstitious then it is likely to rub of on their children and so on.

I don't think that is just a trait of any particular gender, class or culture.

[GuestHouse]

But my question remains - is it more believed by the poor and uneducated , particularly women - or thias in general?

I've got a theory about superstition - basically I believe that the less control people have over events that seriously impact their lives (and particularly if the impact includes real physical danger) the more likely they are to be superstitious.

This can be seen in a number of walks of life/activities - Mariners, Jockeys and Racing Drivers and of course people who gamble.

Taking the view that life for most Thais, and in particular for people at the bottom of the pecking order, life is pretty much of a lottery in which things can turn very sh1tty very quickly, then that fits with my idea as to why these people are superstitious.

[Dustoff]

I can see this thread going downhill in a handbasket and god told me that just as surely as he/she told GW to invade Iraq..

Superstition? If you have, as not one of the "undereducated masses", taken even a brief glance at the religions throughout history and to the present day, you surely realize that belief in supernatural beings/events/places are pretty much the norm in our admittedly primitive species.

But it is always someone else's beliefs that are "superstition", eh?

Joseph Campbell said it best:

"Only myths are true,

everything else is false."

Some reasonable and informative replys to a seroius question - untill your post. the question relates to thai culture and superstition - not the definition or comparison to other religious superstitions or beliefs.

Let me see if I have this..

You are seeking a serious response about Thai cultural superstition, which you previously thought fit only for the "undereducated masses" (and/or females), and are not willing to entertain the possibility that superstition is something that the great majority of us, including you, use to quell our fears?

Okay, on topic, most of contemporary Thai culture came from Ceylon and India - dress, food, music, language, dance, religious structures, Buddhism and yes, superstitions.

I have spent considerable time in India and Nepal and could feel the roots of the religious culture that swept up from there through China, Laos and Cambodia then into Thailand. Each culture, which had different fabrics/colors, spices, dialect, ritual dance, basic structures, deity visualizations of their own and questions about death and afterlife, altered this powerful religious influence as it circled a third of the globe.

Superstition however, based on fear, is relatively consistent.

I think that the great majority of our species, throughout history and still today, suffer the concept of the end of our own ego/self. Hence, stories abound - as rich in detail as human imagination can muster- about past/after lives - a kind of permanence that our own self-importance desires.

My wife and her family and all of the Thias I have grokked with over these many years share one thing in common - they all have similar but very individual feelings and interpretitions of their superstions and beliefs. They, basically, are little different from any culture I have experienced in this world (been around it a few times) and their cultural influence resides in them from the very top of government/religion to the people who harvested the rice you had to eat today...

[spasticated]

Its just their way of life .

About the karma what goes around comes around , they always try to find

a reason not particular their own actions ..... I know what you might think ...

But heh its much worse in India you know ......

I find that they do sort of reason that events are a consequence of their actions - but not directly related to the particular occurence. I mean, like if some sh*t happens today then it happened because of what they done last month or 10 years ago. Not because they didnt look to the right when driving their motorbike in front of that bus!

But my question remains - is it more believed by the poor and uneducated , particularly women - or thias in general?

Its all about control, if you knew you could get away with anything with no repercussions would you do it? Do I believe it? no way there are only repercussions now, if you can make people believe there will be some repercussions "in another life" many will comply.

Be good and go to heaven with Christians ha ha ha yeah right.