“Someone came to visit Niels Bohr, one of the greatest physicists of the century.
To his great astonishment, the visitor saw a horseshoe hanging on the doorway.
After some time, when they had become friendly, he asked, ‘Professor Bohr, do you believe in horseshoes?’
Bohr said, ‘Absolutely not.’
So the visitor asked, ‘Then why is one hanging in your doorway?’
Bohr answered, ‘People say that it helps even if you do not believe in it.’
We all know sane, intelligent people who will not go to synagogue or church because there is no proof for the existence of God, but who will talk about vibrations, or who use crystals to heal themselves, who avoid the unlucky number 13, or who consult an astrologer.
To be sure, not all intelligent people in our era are prone to all of the New Age superstitions.
Some people prefer to adhere to slightly older ones, so they firmly believe in New York Times headlines, in the wisdom of the theater reviewer, or in psychoanalysis.
The fountain of Faith is clearly gushing there.”
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From Simple Words by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz