Augury or Apophenia?
The ancient Greeks rolled the knuckle-bones to gain advice from their Deities. Runes were a gift from the God Odin, and it is said that Yang and Yin control how the yarrow sticks fall. Is it well meaning ancestors that guide the planchette or placement of a tarot card? Could it be the Reader's subconscious, a spirit, or Satan? Is there an intelligence influencing the responses we receive when playing with Ouija boards and other fortune telling games? A common view is that board games in general derive, or are a natural progression from means of divination. Games of chance and the art of Divination share the same basic principle, and as such the instruments used for each are readily interchangeable. In his book "Secret Games of the Gods", Nigel Pennick writes:
"In the time before the idea of randomness was discovered, it was considered that everything that happened was a part of the will of supernatural beings whether the gods or the demonic empire. This idea transcended religious barriers, for it exists as much in Christian as in Pagan belief. The throw of dice, then, was not seen as a random, chance event, but as controlled by and accessing the will of the gods. The underlying belief which ascribes the outcome of games of chance to the goddess Fortuna, now more secularized into Lady Luck, is that the fall of the dice is not random, but under the direct control of Luck personified. "
This ideology of an "outside" source manipulating an item (and/or its User) to convey information remains the basis for most divination systems today. Instead of believing the advice to be from a pantheon of gods though, most of us choose different labels for our source of inspiration. Some of the most popular characterizations commonly used currently are: "Spirit", "Higher Self", "non-conscious mind" and even "Aliens", but the ideology of demons providing information and as such influencing the User, tends to persist. Religious Systems unfriendly to the idea of divination have certainly played their part to create this belief, and reinforce it, but what cannot be ignored is the natural human response to fear the unknown, and our ability to anthropomorphize, personify and ascribe supernatural causes to events and occurrences that we don’t fully comprehend.
The ability to discern accurate information from random data regarding future events, or to perceive information previously unknown to us, is referred to as "extra-sensory perception" and has been interpreted as evidence of a source of information beyond human capabilities to readily glean. However, Science has an alternate explanation for our ability to perceive these seemingly meaningful interrelationships among a set of random data or unrelated stimuli. This capability is referred to as Apophenia or Illusory Pattern Perception, and is described as a coping mechanism attributed to our natural desire to combat uncertainty and maintain control while preserving the brain’s need to conserve energy. It is through the primary and fundamental motivating force of pattern perception that individuals can use stimulus information from their environment, identify it, and develop predictions for the future. Playing video games and sports are just two examples of how we use pattern recognition. These activities cause us to maintain awareness of opponents and teammates, while calculating trajectories of balls, laser beams or monsters, all the while anticipating the behavior of moving targets, adapting to those events and creating strategies and attacks in response. An example of Illusory Pattern Perception is demonstrated by players that associate a particular jersey or good luck charm to be influential to winning a game. This is not necessarily a false belief though, as studies have shown that the use of items thought to be "lucky", or belief in Divine intervention can increase self confidence, lower anxiety and thus improve performance. History has also shown that during times of national uncertainty, such as economic stress or during times of war, that there is an increase in the number of articles on astrology and other psychic phenomena *1, and the retail sales of games such as Ouija Boards reliably increase during these events as well. *2 Once our perceptions are created, psychology explains our cognitive dissonance and motivational reasoning skills for further enforcing those interpretations.
But just how then is accurate information acquired from a throw of a die or flip of a card? Lucky Guess? Coincidence? For those that have experienced precognition, the idea that a psychological coping mechanism is responsible for it might be hard to accept. Whereas some of the information obtained from fortune telling games is exceedingly general and applicable to any situation or inquirer, many would argue that not all methods are so easily disregarded. Especially in cases that the user has predicted, with detailed accuracy, an occurrence that could not have been foreseen by them, such as a sudden natural disaster or other calamitous world event. Although Apophenia has been shown to cause people to see images in noise, form illusory correlations, perceive conspiracies, and develop superstitions, could it also be used to facilitate communication between humankind and invisible powers that may animate the visible world? Could we be engaging the Divine in a dialog formed of intrinsically universal symbols and meaningful patterns?
For those that have experienced a spontaneous discernment, not brought on by intent or consultation with a form of divination, the theory of illusory pattern perception is not so easily applied. Many describe this sort of impromptu precognition to be as if they were "recalling" rather than surmising, and simply repeating information already known to them without concentrated effort or motivated by anxiety. However, Apophenia could be a viable reason why people might rationalize that the information they receive via their use of a talking board or tarot card might be only accessible through the will of gods or the machinations of demons. What do you think? Just how are we able to draw accurate conclusions about the future from seemingly random symbols or chance responses received when consulting divination games? Please use the comment section below, I'm interested in what you have to say!
*1. Padgett VR, Jorgenson DO (1982) Superstition and economic threat: Germany, 1918–1940. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 8: 736–741 10.1177/0146167282084021.
*2. Murch, Robert. The Strange and Mysterious History of the Ouija Board, By Linda Rodriguez McRobbie Smithsonian Magazine, smithsonian.com October 27, 2013
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