A Light in the Darkness of Knowledge.

As I was walking along the river this afternoon, I was surprised to hear an owl hooting in the grove my path went through. “Beware the Ides of March,” was the line my mind recollected, and this phrase started a line of thought that might be worth exploring out in more detail.

The line is from the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare. One of the many bad omens that proceeded the Ides of March was the Owl, a creature of the night, showing itself under the midday sun.

“And yesterday, the bird of night did sit
Even at noonday, upon the market place,
Hooting and shrieking.”

Now it is easy for us to dismiss the idea of an omen as superstition. But I think that is to our detriment if we do. What does my owl along the river, and Caesar’s owl in the market place have in common? For one, they were active during the day. This seems unusual because owls are normally nocturnal creatures. Most people never see an owl in their life. Mostly because owls like to sleep deep in a brushy patch or high in a tree. In the foliage their feathers provide camouflage, so unless you happen to see a yellow eye staring at you, or catch a glimpse of what had looked like the nub of a dead limb shifting weight, your average person will probably pass by an owl and not take any notice.

This unusualness is the discrepancy that serves as the omen. Everyday occurrences are not omens. No one ever thought a bee on a flower or a fish in a river was an omen. The are normal occurrences, and as such, represent the natural order of creation. For something to be an omen, it must be unusual, or at least perceived by the culture as something unusual, worthy of notice and explanation.

This lead me to the idea that superstitions may have something important behind them. Not so much as something that needs to be heeded, but something that can tell us about a culture. At some level, it looks to me like superstitions are the popular interpretation of a cultures cosmology or world view by the common man.

If you have a cosmology that emphasizes the battle between order and chaos, as most pre-modern cultures do, (i.e. the ancient pagan, Jewish and early Christian,) then we have a frame working to view the owl in the daylight through. As God’s (or the gods’ or a Pagan culture), order in the universe dictates that the owl inhabits the darkness, the owl in the light shows that chaos is afoot. In a Christian worldview we would call this chaos sin, as sin is rebellion against God and as a result rebellion against His order, and this leads to disorder.

Now, your average man (ancient or modern) could probably not articulate a coherent world view to explain the order and chaos in the universe. But this does not mean that he is ignorant of the existence and effects of order and chaos in the surrounding world. Instead of being articulated in philosophical treaties, the grid work that is used is perhaps more inductive. He sees a break in the order of creation, and understanding that evil abhors order, interprets the discrepancy as an omen, the sign that evil is on the move. In that way, superstitions are a folk cosmology, a layman’s interpretation of his cultures cosmological gridwork.

“I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.”
—Augustine of Hippo

Like we said, the history of Canada is so dull. It’s all just murder, mayhem and massacres.
Fortunately, Canada’s academic historians and well-intentioned educators have picked up the ball. Who needs heroes and exiles and great campaigns for justice? Boooorr-ing! Why should Canadians know who their leaders were? Why should they be familiar with the key battles and major turning points? That’s so outdated.
Instead, we now have “social history.” Which of course isn’t really history at all. Regular history is about cause and effect. Social history is about endless details and accumulated minutiae. It isn’t so much history as it is “historical sociology.” Hint: If you see the words “working-class conditions” or “an examination of gender roles,” you are reading social history (i.e., sociology). And boy oh boy, kids today can’t get enough of it! “Forget John A. Macdonald and the conquest of a continent,” they cry. “We want to know more about the social conditions of eighteenth-century textile workers!”
Canadian history is no longer about “people” (as in, individuals). It is about “peoples.” Note the telltale use of the plural. Whenever you see the word “peoples” in a title, you know you are in for some excellent, rip-roaring, social-demographic, ethnically sensitive, gender-correct sociological studies! So, get yourself a blanket and a big ol’ pillow and settle yourself down for a nice long snooze.

–How To Be A Canadian by Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson, page 18.