How We Believe_ Science and the Search for God - Michael Shermer [35]
Enhancing magical thinking. The Yanomamö man on the left is blowing the hallucinogenic ebene powder into the nostrils of the other. According to Napoleon Chagnon, the powder will trigger “grimaces, chokes, groans, coughs, gasps,” followed by “watery eyes and a profusely runny nose … dry heaves are also very common, as is out-and-out vomiting. Within a few minutes, one has difficulty focusing and begins to see spots and blips of lights. Knees get rubbery. Soon the hekura spirits can be seen dancing out of the sky and from the mountain tops, rhythmically prancing down their trails to enter the chest of their human beckoner, who by now is singing melodically to lure them into his body where he can control them—send them to harm enemies or help cure sick kinsmen.” The Belief Engine is more susceptible to superstitions and magical thinking when such hallucinogenic drugs are used.
In fact, Malinowski argues, it is as natural for humans to think scientifically as it is for them to think magically: “There are no peoples however primitive without religion and magic. Nor are there, it must be added at once, any savage races lacking either in the scientific attitude or in science.” The same could be said for modern humans. It all depends on the environmental circumstances. Evolution gave us a large, complex, and malleable brain with certain built-in modules that respond to changing environments. In order to be successful hunters, fishers, and farmers, not to mention spouses, parents, and community members, any group of humans—Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons, Trobriand Islanders, or we—would need a certain understanding of and mastery over both the physical and social environments: “In all this they are guided by a clear knowledge of weather and seasons, plants and pests, soil and tubers, and by a conviction that this knowledge is true and reliable, that it can be counted upon and must be scrupulously obeyed.” Malinowski discovered that humans inhabit two worlds—the sacred and the profane—with a clear-cut division between the two: “There is first the well-known set of conditions, the natural course of growth, as well as the ordinary pests and dangers to be warded off by fencing and weeding. On the other hand there is the domain of the unaccountable and adverse influences, as well as the great unearned increment of fortunate coincidence. The first conditions are coped with by knowledge and work, the second by magic.” The Trobriand Islanders are a reflection of ourselves, our ancestors, and our common evolutionary heritage to think both causally and magically.
THE MEDIEVAL BELIEF ENGINE
The relationship between the Belief Engine and the uncertainties and vagaries of life is clear in examining beliefs in the Middle Ages. Consider the fact that in medieval times 80 to 90 percent of the people were illiterate. Most could not even read the Bible, particularly since it was written in Latin, guaranteeing that it would remain the exclusive intellectual property of an elite few. Almost everyone believed in sorcery, werewolves, hobgoblins, witchcraft, and black magic. If a noblewoman died, her servants ran around the house emptying all containers of water so her soul would not drown. Her lord, in response to her death, faced east and formed a cross by lying prostrate on the ground, arms outstretched. If the left eye of a corpse did not close properly, the soul would spend extra time in purgatory (leading to the ritual closing of the eyes upon death). A man knew he was near death if he saw a shooting star or a vulture hovering over his home. If a wolf howled at night the one who heard him would disappear before dawn (one can imagine a campfire conversation: “I didn’t hear anything, did you?” “No, not I.”). Bloodletting was popular. Plagues were believed to be the result of an unfortunate conjuncture of the stars and planets. And the air was believed to be infested with such soulless spirits as unbaptized infants, ghouls who pulled out cadavers in graveyards and gnawed on their bones, water nymphs who lured knights