Meditations on the Evil Eye
Four reasons to beware of the curse
The Evil Eye is a curse born of envy. For thousands of years, cultures worldwide, fearing the malevolent glare, littered warnings throughout history in artifacts, literature, and folk tales. Naturally, I first learned about the evil eye from my mother. Mama warned me to keep my successes close to my chest and to advertise my failures. This strange exercise in humility, she explained, protected me from any potential curses that may find their way into my life. Alongside this lesson, she armed me with an arsenal of eye amulets—enough to reflect ten thousand glares.
Evidence of the Evil Eye in history began in ancient Mesopotamia, approximately 5000 years ago. Through a complex series of cultural diffusions, the concept grew and evolved. The “dangerous glances” of Sumerian gods mingled with nearby beliefs such as Egypt’s’ Eye of Horus. Over the years, trade, conquest, and time spread the belief in evil eyes far and wide—accreting new names and identities. From “al-ayn” in the Middle East came the “bouda” in Ethiopia, the “bad eye” in Trinidad and Tobago, the “Buri Nazar” in Northern India, the “Mal de ojo” in Mexico, and many, many more.
Its prominence was further accelerated through religion; for example, Quranic verses and Hadiths enshrined the Evil Eye into Islamic canon.
In the Quran: Surat al Falaq
In the name of Allah, the most gracious and merciful: Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn. From the mischief of created things, From the mischief of darkness as it overspreads, From the mischief of those who practice secret arts, and from the mischief of the envious one as he practices envy
And in the Bible: Mark 7:20-23
What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness
This belief is pervasive.
I do not consider myself to be superstitious. However, I am slightly ‘stitious. Unfortunately, I have never been able to shake the nagging feeling that I am inviting curses my way any time I discuss my goals or dreams. I know this is irrational, but who would I be to ignore thousands of years of history and two decades of my mother’s warnings?
A gambler; a bad son; A cursed fool?
In this essay, I will intellectualize this nagging feeling by examining a few arguments promoting evil-eye-caution. Next time a suspiciously envious person is getting too nosy—please use this essay as your talisman.
I. Keep your friends close and your enemies ignorant
It was a cool fall morning when a seven-year-old Humam found a leaf. I had been circling the playground, hunting and gathering knick-knacks, as young children often do, when I found my trophy—a gorgeous, scarlet, heart-shaped leaf. I beamed with excitement. I would gift this leaf to my mother—the leaf heart that shone as bright as a young boy’s love for his mama.
I came across a gang of three girls, one year my senior. The leader, a girl much bigger than myself, and her goons, asked me what I was so excited about. I stupidly, earnestly, gleefully admitted that I had found a precious leaf, and that soon I would give it to my mommy. The leader asked to see my leaf and, in what I assume was a fit of jealousy, evil, or both, she ripped my leaf in half, breaking both of my hearts.
Obviously, not all people are evil. In fact, I’d argue that most people are inherently good. But, in every instance of sabotage, vengeance, and spite, someone lies responsible. People—especially 8-year-old bullies—can be evil. They may harbour jealousy of your accomplishments or hatred for your character; they may subtly plot against you. For those people, information is a weapon. You can disarm them by looking deep into their evil eyes and remaining silent.
II. Vent your frustration, but stew your aspiration
There are some days when nothing goes right. You woke up tired, on the wrong side of the bed, and late for work. Your hair is a mess and to make matters worse, the coffee you barely had time to grab has just spilled. You get to the office, and your boss is yelling at you about some report. The date you had scheduled that evening was cancelled. This was a bad day.
Fortunately, to ease this wound you have some tools at your disposal. You can sleep and hope for a better tomorrow. You can drown your feelings out with substances. Or, you could speak to a friend.
When nothing is going right, when your frustration ferments inside of you, bulging and colonizing the pit of your stomach, talking is a fantastic release. Suddenly, your day feels a bit better. Your mood has picked up. While venting, you realize how okay you are right now—sharing time with a friend.
Conversely, speaking about your ideas, goals, and dreams may have a similar “venting” effect in two ways.
Firstly, you stop the desires from fermenting, festering, bulging, or colonizing. There is energy in excitement—when you speak about the excitement, some of that energy is released. It is no longer your own. By articulating your goals, you have transformed what was abstract, hypothetical, and boundless into something bounded, defined, and chained. By talking about it, you may have subconsciously fixed your perspective. The special sauce, the secret, the masterpiece you stored in your mind's eye is long gone—auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Secondly, in giving voice to your desires, you enjoy the warmth of unearned success. While crowing about the new regiment you have committed to, or the project you are about to start, your audience may ooh, and ahh, and revel in your excitement. For instance, In middle school, my friends and I planned to film a movie multiple times. We had so much fun talking about the idea of making a movie, that we never even started.
By having all this fun, and enjoying all that validation, you have already tasted a big part of hard work’s reward. People desire praise and admiration; further, people crave what they can’t have because it’s new, mysterious, and something to be anticipated. However, once you have tasted the proverbial carrot on the stick—you realize that your carrot was just another mediocre root vegetable, after all.
By giving voice to what was voiceless, and sharing what was yours, you may limit its scope and reduce your drive to pursue it in the first place.
III. Once you are a part of this thing of ours, there is no way out
Once you believe in the evil eye, even a little bit, you may have inadvertently turned your psychology against yourself.
Stereotype threat is the tendency for people to do worse at tasks when they fear confirming negative stereotypes pointed at their group. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is that the omnipresence of the negative stereotype heightens anxiety, self-consciousness, and reduces focus—resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I propose a similar mechanism. Consider a big job interview. If you somewhat believe in the evil eye, and you have told people about this interview, there is some risk that your inkling of belief reduces your focus and introduces self-doubt.
If you do not believe in the evil eye and you have told people about the interview, you still may have put yourself at a disadvantage. By telling people about the interview, you may heighten your stress levels by introducing a new fear of letting people down.
(Notably, the concept of “stereotype threat” has received criticism for poor study design and publication bias. A meta-analysis of 212 studies has mitigated the extent of stereotype threat’s effect. The authors concluded, "We do not question the existence of the stereotype threat phenomenon; we just question the evidence that it affects cognitive ability tests in high stakes settings in a systematic way. Also, individual test-takers may still be affected by stereotype threat. However, we are looking at systematic effects, and average effects across groups”)
Likewise, self-serving bias is our tendency to perceive ourselves in the best possible light. We attribute our success to intrinsic factors, and our failures to extrinsic ones. So, consider the job interview again. If you believe in the evil eye and have told people about the interview, you have gifted yourself a free excuse if you are not selected.
Attributing failure to the Evil Eye provides a convenient escape from personal accountability. Beyond escape, the belief may grant license to do poorly—a reason not to prepare, or invest too much into the process. Trying too hard and failing would be embarrassing. Instead, trying a little bit and failing leaves face to save, curse to blame, and self to serve. Thus, with some credence in the evil eye, you can activate the curse by yourself—no envy required!
IV. The appeal to popular belief fallacy
As of 2012, Pew Polling suggests that eight of ten people on Earth are religious. As of 2005, a Gallup poll indicates that 32% of Americans believe in ghosts and spirits. If so many people believe in gods and ghosts and miracles, surely the jump to curses and evil eyes is not so difficult. It’s more like a shuffle or lean, really.
Widespread belief does not equate truth, but it does lend the idea some plausibility. When my mother presents accounts of the evil eye and the havoc it wreaks, I presume that confirmation bias is puppeteering the narrative. But I am not certain.
When I consider all the millions of mothers around the world, similarly worrying and warning of the evil eye—it feels, to me, almost too flippant to discount all this popular support. Perhaps most of these accounts are fantasies, but every single one? Maybe one time, for real, not-even-kidding, a malevolent glare really did end up cursing somebody.
Again, support does not mean evidence. But, as an open-minded thinker, the popular support keeps me credulous. Instead of, let's say, 90% certain that curses don’t exist, I’ve hedged to 85% certain.
V. Back to Earth
I still don’t buy that an envious glare can ruin my life. But I firmly believe that we should all know less about each other. In the days of yore, secrets could, at worst, spread throughout one or two social groups. Today, secrets can infect communities; through your aunties' WhatsApp group chats, into the mind of a cousin’s friend’s brother, who may curse your name the next time you pop up on their feed.
In moderation, calculated silence is probably a good thing. I will likely continue my caution of the evil eye—just in case, and I will continue to wear my eye amulets—mostly because I think they are pretty. And, when life takes an unexpected turn, I will shoulder the blame, curse be damned.
What do you think? Do you have any anecdotes of the evil eye? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. (But not too many thoughts. Who knows what eyes may read and curse you)