When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodb... — Denis Diderot

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.

Author: Denis Diderot

Insight: There's a particular kind of mental calcification that happens when we stop questioning things. Superstition—whether it's literal belief in the supernatural or just unexamined dogma we've absorbed—acts like a sedative on curiosity. It lets us stop thinking, stop noticing, stop reaching. Diderot is saying that the same numbness that comes with actual old age can be artificially induced much earlier if we let rigid thinking take over. And once that happens, the creative spark dies before we do. What makes this observation sharp for today is how it extends beyond religion or folklore. We're all susceptible to superstition in the modern sense: the conviction that "that's just how things are done," or "people like us don't do that." These unquestioned beliefs can calcify us as surely as any ancient ritual. They kill the willingness to experiment, to look foolish, to try something that might not work. A musician who's accepted every rule without questioning produces technically correct but lifeless work. A painter who's internalized what "good art" supposedly looks like paints from habit, not vision. The uncomfortable part: excellence requires staying mentally young—which means staying open to being wrong, staying willing to discard what no longer serves. That friction, that refusal to settle into comfortable patterns, is what separates genuine creation from mere repetition.