There’s something in your evil eye
Before we begin, it is probably a good idea to establish that we’re not scientists, nor revered philosophers with contempt for things that could be worldly. It is safe to assume, after this brief confession, that we may have lost some credibility. But, there is power in the words of simpletons who haven’t yet created headlines or written academic journals about concepts that are deep-rooted in belief.
We’ve grown up in households where people have always feared the “evil eye”, to an extent that we have refrained from telling people about successes in our lives because their envy may end up hampering our happiness. Over many years, we’ve seen a tiny row of green chillies and a lemon hanging in doorways, the tongue-out doll with tiny horns by the front door or even trucks asking the ones with evil eyes to stay away. It makes us wonder if there is history or science behind this belief that is almost as old as our cognitive processes. The former is true, but the latter is questionable.
We’re travelling back in time to Southern Mesopotamia, setting foot in Sumer, one of mankind’s earliest civilizations and possibly the first set of humans who gave birth to the idea and the possible existence of the Evil Eye — a widespread folk concept that the glance of certain people, gods, animals or mythological figures can cause injury, illness or even death. Prayer-like inscriptions of cuneiform tablets were located in Sumer and Babylonia between 3000 and 3300 BC. Supporting this, archeologists have discovered “eye idols” and many theologians have reason to assume that these idols were correlated with the worship of the goddess, Ninhursag, the goddess of childbirth.
In various cultures (and for a sizeable amount of time), newborns, infants and birthing mothers have been deemed especially vulnerable to the Evil Eye. Our culture has its own “evolved” mechanisms of developing practices as protection from the Evil Eye. Our parents pressed their fingers in a tiny cup of kohl and applied a tip-of-the-finger size circle on our cheeks. Growing up, the blotch of kohl was common for newborns in Indian families, and somehow, a weapon against something as powerful as the Evil Eye.
Source: www.ancient.eu
With its long history of existence (over a millennia), it remains one of the most influential and complex belief systems in the world. Alan Dundes, with his legion of admirable works, wrote “The Evil Eye: A Casebook” that comprises a volume of scholarly essays that assess the pervasive and persistent influence of the evil-eye belief complex. “The idea that a malign glance can do grievous harm to person and property is of great antiquity”, the anthropologist explains through his analysis of the Evil Eye across disparate cultures.
There is an understanding that “good” is limited in quantity — wealth, livestock or well-being. There is acceptance that we share this good with the society, and sometimes, fight for ownership. Consequently, people started expressing their contempt with a look (maybe a glare), or with a false sense of praise for somebody else’s “good”, with an underlying hope that that good is somehow taken away. Historically, the practice of wearing the image of an eye was to symbolize that we are looking outward — an act adopted to provide a sense of security for the fearful, with a hope to constantly keeping an eye on the world around you.
Prescientific times proffered little or no explanations to things that cropped up as illnesses or calamities, often attributing misfortunes to something supernatural. At the risk of sounding scientific despite not being scientists, we could discuss the Extramission Theory of Vision. According to this theory, the particles or rays emitted by the eye can wreck harm just as the rays of the sun. A glaring, staring eye, a penetrating gaze, can burn, wither, reduce to ashes, zap, hurt, injure, damage or destroy any object. Yet, there is no foundation of this theory from a physiological standpoint. The eye does emit electromagnetic signals, which is the scientific proof behind the Evil Eye beliefs. However, the low frequency of these emissions can hardly account for the devastating effects people have ascribed to the glaring eye.
In the latter half of 2020, we (the authors of this article) married each other after falling hopelessly in love. Despite an abundance of positives, we often found ourselves complaining about everything that went wrong, and not about the things that were right. Our families and those around us ascribed the wrong to one or few wrong glares we have received. A host of human biases could have possibly aided in cementing the belief of the Evil Eye in our lives.
The Negativity bias is the notion that even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one’s psychological state and processes than neutral or positive natures. This is why first bad impressions are impossible to erase or why past trauma has lingering effects. We illustrated Recency bias through X and Y a few paragraphs ago. We tend to cherry-pick information that confirm our existing beliefs, the very make up of what Confirmation bias truly is; a frontrunner in the evolution of Evil Eye over centuries and centuries.
Jealousy is a percolating emotion. We’re certain we’ve been “cursed” a few times for how marvelously success and love has cared for us over the years. The scientific evidence pointing towards the accuracy of the Evil Eye are still little or none, but as humans, we prefer having an explanation towards all negative turn of events in our lives. There are some people on this earth who truly believe they could curse you with one ill-timed comment or just a glance. We lean on the side that feels more like a cushion. Since we’re neither scientists nor philosophers, we can’t always spot reason that grows amidst a lawn of weed. But as simpletons with a predilection for a good dosage of research, we’d pick reason over a heap of amulets drowning in fear.
Sources:
- https://u.osu.edu/vanzandt/2018/03/08/the-evil-eye/
- https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/0530144305_Kotze_FINAL.pdf
- https://www.astro.ku.dk/~erik/HoegAlhazen.pdf
Authors: Andal Srivatsan, Srinivasan Mohan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andal-srivatsan-95421a74/
https://in.linkedin.com/in/srinivasanmohan1About the Authors:
In a romantic setting, Andal and Srinivasan speak of the pitfalls of democracy, why data is alluring and how the humour quotient solved crippling issues over centuries. On quieter days, they sip on ginger-infused tea in their balcony and look for books and documentaries they could agree upon.
