The Surrendered Mind: Religious Surrender, Magical Thinking and the Crisis of Independent Thought

“Don’t think. Just believe. Just obey.”

Introduction

Imagine this: you’re running late for an important meeting. You grab your lucky pen — the one you’ve used on every successful day — and whisper to yourself, “Please, let this go well.”

As you step out the door, something changes. You feel lighter, calmer, more in control. Deep down you know the pen doesn’t have real power but believing it does gives you comfort. That belief steadies you — and for a moment, it feels as if the universe is on your side.

That small, almost insignificant act is magical thinking. It’s not about spells or sorcery; it’s about how our minds reach for meaning when faced with uncertainty. Magical thinking has been part of humanity since the beginning of time — from praying for rain, to carrying charms for safety. Our brains are wired to create patterns, to seek control in a chaotic world. Even in modern society, that same wiring quietly shapes our thoughts and decisions.

Today, I want to explore how magical thinking in adults affects our ability to effectively solve problems, both as individuals and as a society. We’ll look at where it comes from, its major driver, why some adults don’t outgrow it, how it influences us, the risks it poses when we depend on it, and, most importantly, how we can overcome it.

What is Magical Thinking?

Magical thinking is the belief that thoughts, actions, or rituals can influence outcomes in ways that defy scientific or natural laws. It is the cognitive distortion that relies on unrealistic beliefs for control. As humans, we have the tendency to connect unrelated events, such as believing that symbolic acts or items can influence real-world results.

This way of thinking is not always irrational, it is human. We all engage in some form of magical thinking, however logical we may like to think we are. We all have hopes and dreams but often lack ways and means, so we try to hope or pray or wish our desires into fruition.

Everyday display of magical thinking includes believing in luck, karma, or jinxes, thinking a prayer can bring rain, touching wood to avoid bad luck, thinking the universe sends “signs,” believing you can “attract” success by simply thinking about it. Having superstitions like avoiding the number 13 or wearing a “lucky” shirt for good results or attributing storms or illness to divine punishment in cultural or religious context. In more contemporary discourse we engage in conspiracy theories or pseudoscience disguised as intuition.

Origins and Psychology of Magical Thinking

When life feels uncertain, the brain doesn’t just sit quietly waiting for answers — it starts filling in the blanks. Our minds are wired to predict, to connect dots, and to try to make sense of the unknown. But sometimes, in that rush to explain the unknown, the brain creates patterns that aren’t there, and society can reinforce these assumptions in the unbelievable through culture, media, religion, and even politics.

Evolutionary Roots: The Pattern-Seeking Brain

From the earliest humans, survival depended on recognizing patterns. If you heard rustling in the bushes and assumed it was a predator — even if it wasn’t — that false alarm could make the difference between life and death. Our ancestors evolved to detect connections even where none existed. This “better safe than sorry” tendency shaped what psychologists call agent detection — the instinct to believe something or someone causes every event. Over time, this protective bias made us prone to seeing invisible forces — spirits, curses, fate, etc. — as being behind natural events.

Emotional Comfort and Control

Magical thinking fulfills a deep emotional need: control. When life feels unpredictable, such as during illness, loss, or failure, believing in unseen powers provides a sense of reassurance. It’s psychologically soothing to think, “There’s a reason this happened,” or “I can influence events with my thoughts.” This is why magical thinking spikes during crises like wars, pandemics, or personal tragedies, offering certainty when logic can’t guarantee comfort. I call it the brutality of reality.

Developmental Psychology: From Childhood to Adulthood

As Psychologist Jean Piaget noted, magical thinking is normal in children, even encouraged — As adults, we’re supposed to grow out of this phase through experience and critical reasoning. But under stress, uncertainty, or fear, even grown-ups can regress to that childlike mindset — hoping the world bends to our emotions. This wishful thinking can distort our relationship with reality. And religion often gives magical thinking in adults, a home.

Neuroscience Perspective

As a coping mechanism that helps to ease anxiety and uncertainty, our brains find comfort by assigning meaning to rituals or symbols. Modern brain studies show that magical thinking activates the same neural circuits as reward, imagination, and emotional regulation. When we believe a ritual “works,” dopamine is released — creating a reinforcing loop that makes us feel powerful and reassured, even when the cause-and-effect link is false.

Cultural Inheritance

Cultural practices, religious ideals and rituals are passed down generationally, often without critical examination. Magical thinking isn’t confined to our minds; it’s a concept that’s passed down and reinforced through our culture. Superstitions, such as “knocking on wood” and “don’t step on cracks,” are passed down through generations. Media narratives often glorify “manifestation” or miracle cures, contributing to the persistence of magical thinking.

Religious or spiritual traditions that interpret natural events as divine acts or messages, further reinforces magical thinking.

While these shared beliefs can provide comfort and a sense of belonging, they can also discourage critical examination and hinder scientific progress.

Simply speaking, magical thinking survives because it speaks to our deepest fears and hopes.

With that said, while we understand the evolutionary need for magical thinking and how parts of our brain have been wired to hang on to some of these ideas. And for a time, it held its value, the question that remains is —with all we know today, why do we continue to engage in magical thinking as adults?

Religion and Magical Thinking

The successful growth and development of any individual or society is dependent on how well they are equipped to solve problems. This means that we — at the minimum— must possess certain skills that allows us tackle issues methodically and efficiently, like having sound foundational knowledge of issues, a wide-ranging set of critical skills, a collaborative mindset, and tangible resources.

What has this got to do with magical thinking?

I originally come from Nigeria, on the west coast of Africa. At 227 million people, it is the most populous country on the continent with a median age of 18years. In an attempt to identify why such a large youthful nation is failing in the midst of obvious abundance, I noticed a pervasive mindset among the people. Illogical hope.

I now live in America, and over the last decade I have observed a repetition of the same attitude among a certain population of the country, that I’d witnessed in my home country with similarly poor outcomes, though to a lesser scale.

The common thread between these populations, who would probably not see eye to eye with each other, due to their prejudices, was their level of religiosity.

Regardless of strain or denomination, religious faiths often hold the surrender of personal will and intellect to a higher power as a necessary part of good followership. When it is widespread, this demand has real life consequences that impacts the growth and progress of any society.

Ideological Surrender and the Crisis of Independent Thought

Before we go into religious surrender, I would like to touch on some other forms of ideological surrender that may not be related to religion.

This is that tendency we have as humans, to hand over our capacity for independent thought in exchange for comfort, stability and a sense of belonging. We are constantly told what to believe, who to trust, and even what side to pick. This push doesn’t always come from bad intentions, but sometimes the message may resonate with us, because we just want clarity. This desire slowly turns affiliation into our identity and questioning the group starts to feel like betrayal.

We all experience various forms of ideological surrender in our societies, some of us even engage in it. We see political surrender when citizens defend their leaders no matter how corrupt or incompetent they are. We see nationalistic surrender when patriotism turns into blind loyalty, where we equate any type of criticism with betrayal.

Cultural surrender is exhibited when traditions are preserved even at the expense of justice or reason — when people cling to “the way things have always been” rather than ask whether those ways still serve human dignity. Ideological surrender occurs when belief systems like capitalism, socialism, or environmentalism are treated as unquestionable truths rather than adaptable frameworks for the benefit of humanity and all creatures. Even technological surrender now dominates modern life, as people outsource their thinking to algorithms, influencers, and machines.

Unfortunately, surrendering to an ideology, religion, or leader often simplifies the world into moral binaries: good and evil, right and wrong, believer and heretic, these dichotomies may relieve the anxiety of doubt, but they usually come at the cost of intellectual honesty.

The results is cognitive dissonance as we try to justify our position, where rather than revise our worldview, we often distort or deny reality to protect our faith, identity, or tribe. A person may reject scientific evidence on evolution because it clashes with religious doctrine or may ignore economic data that undermines their political ideology. The brain learns to prioritize emotional comfort over factual consistency because it feels safer to remain loyal to one’s group, even if it means suppressing curiosity or reason.

Once people are conditioned to value obedience and followership over truth and reason, they are more vulnerable to exploitation by those who promise certainty such as religious leaders, politicians, or media demagogues. Claims are no longer evaluated based on evidence, but on who delivers them and how they align with preexisting beliefs.

In the end, whether one kneels before a god, a nation, a political party, or a technological system, the result is the same — the surrender of independent thought.

What is Religious Surrender?

Religious surrender is the act of fully submitting or yielding oneself to a higher power, often understood as God or a divine authority. It involves relinquishing personal control, trusting in the divine will, and accepting guidance without resistance. This surrender is characterized by faith, humility, devotion, acknowledgment of human limitations and the belief that divine wisdom governs the ultimate outcome of life’s circumstances. It is not merely obedience. It is the act of yielding control, of trusting a higher power, often in the absence of direct evidence. It means believing that divine will or cosmic order is at work—even when life feels chaotic. Across religions, surrender is often sold as a positive for adherents:

o   In Christianity: the belief of “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Is a fundamental tenet of the faith.

o   In Islam: “Islam” itself means submission to God.

o   In Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita teaches surrender to Krishna as the path to liberation.

o   In Buddhism: Letting go of ego and trusting the Dharma are fundamental to ending suffering and achieving enlightenment

Since humans do not have any tangible interaction with their chosen deity, they must depend on the directives of the deities’ proxies (also known as religious leaders) to direct them. And we have seen how a lot of those proxies can go to extremes with their directives.

Secular Versions of Magical Thinking

It must be noted that magical thinking isn’t always religious, it is a universal cognitive pattern. Even atheists, skeptics and the non-religious aren’t immune:

·       Believing in “the universe” having a plan

·       Trusting crystals, horoscopes, or manifestations

·       Elevating political ideologies to sacred status

Surrender too, can be secular: such as surrendering to fate, to nature, or even to technology.

We are focusing on religious surrender because of its wider reach and much greater influence.

Religious surrender and the Persistence of Magical Thinking in Adulthood

Is surrender rational? Is magical thinking in adults ever benign?  

Magical thinking is natural — even desirable — in childhood. It fuels imagination, creativity, and emotional development. When a child believes that wishing upon a star can make a dream come true, or that their thoughts can influence the world around them, they are exploring cause and effect and learning to navigate uncertainty. In this stage of life, magical thinking is a developmental tool — a bridge between innocence and understanding.

But when adults and majority in the society continue to rely on magical thinking, it becomes a serious problem. What once fueled creativity, becomes a barrier to progress and accountability. It begins to replace reason with ritual, effort with expectation and responsibility with passivity. A culture that clings to magical thinking encourages people to hope instead of plan, to pray instead of act, and to wait for intervention rather than initiate change.

When this mindset becomes collective, it erodes scientific curiosity, rational governance, and social responsibility. Innovation tends to slow down, misinformation thrives, and individuals begin to surrender their agency— believing that outcomes depend not on evidence or effort, but on luck, fate, or divine favor.

In childhood, magical thinking is a stage of growth. When it persists into adulthood, it becomes a form of mental stagnation.

The command by religious faiths to submit will and intellect, which entails surrendering the ability to think and act for oneself, robs us of critical reasoning abilities. Over time, this mindset fosters a dangerous tendency to disregard reality and truth fueling illogical hope. While some may see surrender as comforting or morally grounding, in reality, it limits our thinking and undermines effective problem-solving at both the individual and societal levels.

We often see this play out in everyday life— where individuals with little or no subject pedigree or understanding, confidently challenge professionals with years of rigorous studies and multiple degrees. Not because they have contrary evidence, but because they feel morally compelled to defend their faith. Rather than withholding judgement and examining facts presented, they dismiss or twist them to protect their belief. And because doubt feels dangerous —even sinful— if expressed, faith is defended at all costs.

Once we conclude that “God did it,” the investigation ends. There is no reason to ask how or why. That’s where religious surrender stops discovery — because when divine explanation becomes the final answer, science has no room to grow. In such societies, questioning is seen as rebellion, and education as a threat. Minds that could innovate are trained to obey, and truth becomes something to protect, not to pursue.

Societies are often admonished to fight religious extremism — the visible, violent manifestation of belief gone too far. But extremism is not where the problem lies. It is the end state of a deeper psychological process. The real challenge we face is combating religious surrender — the quiet, unquestioning conditioning that precedes and makes extremism possible.

Religious surrender teaches people to stop asking questions, to silence doubt, and to see obedience as a virtue. It conditions the mind to yield control to authority — divine or human — and to equate submission with righteousness. Over time, this creates fertile ground for manipulation. When individuals are taught to believe that loyalty outweighs logic, that faith outweighs evidence, or that authority outweighs inquiry, they become susceptible to exploitation by leaders, ideologies, or institutions that claim to speak for the divine.

This is how magical thinking, when left unchecked, evolves into fanaticism. The same mental process that comforts someone through prayer in times of uncertainty can, under the right influence, be transformed into devotion without reflection, action without conscience, and obedience without understanding.

Religious surrender often includes magical assumptions:

·       God answers prayers

·       Saints intervene in worldly affairs

·       Holy objects have powers

·       Suffering has cosmic purpose

·       Miracle cures occur from belief

Religious surrender also breeds fear — fear of the unknown, fear of death and the afterlife, fear of blasphemy and sin, fear of independent thought. Fear of knowledge and change and fear of challenging religious leaders and popularly held beliefs, which has given these religious leaders a larger-than life image that they continue to use to manipulate and exploit the populace to their benefit. These leaders are often not bashful in wielding this power.

When entire communities operate under this mindset, they become resistant to progress and vulnerable to division. It cultivates an “us-versus-them” worldview, a hierarchy of unquestioned authority, and a distrust of collaboration — all of which are antithesis to effective problem-solving.

Though religions claim to promote peace and unity— by their laws and practice, they have created more intolerance and division than any cultural or economic differences we have had.

On the surface, many religions advocate for love, compassion, and solidarity among followers. Scriptural teachings often emphasize the importance of community, shared beliefs, and collective worship. The idea is that individuals united under a common faith can find strength in numbers and foster a sense of belonging. This aspect of religion can indeed create tight-knit communities that provide emotional support and reinforce positive behaviors. Yet, the same religions that preach unity, ironically give rise to divisions both in society and among different religious groups. These divisions often stem from differing interpretations of doctrine, rituals, and practices.

Even within sects of the same faith, conflict can emerge when groups believe their interpretation of the faith is the only correct one, leading to exclusion and hostility towards those who hold different beliefs. This exclusivity mentality undermines the very unity that religion claims to promote.

Moreover, brief research into the history of many religions reveals a pattern of conflict over territory, resources, and power, often justified through holy proclamations.  

Crusades, jihad, and the inquisition illustrate how religious fervor can mobilize people to commit acts of violence and discrimination against others. Instead of promoting harmony in our societies, religion has been, and continues to be used, as a tool of control and division in our geopolitical and social arena.

Our religious affiliations have consumed our identity today; the expectation of unity and morality has not been achieved. It has produced the opposite effect, of community disengagement. The resulting desperation, fear and anxiety born out of this negative outlook has taken such deep roots in our psyche and led to selfishness, that any hope for collaborative change is slim to none.

In these 21st century, where progress depends on evidence, critical reasoning, and cooperation, this mindset is profoundly dangerous. Fighting religious extremism because it destabilizes communities is, therefore, not enough. We must address its root: — the normalization of religious surrender, the surrender of independent thought, curiosity, courage, personal responsibility and the reason for the persistence of magical thinking— which has greatly impacted how we effectively solve personal and societal problems.

Impact on Individual Problem-Solving

Problem-solving requires clear observation, analysis, and deliberate action. Magical thinking disrupts that process by replacing investigation with assumption. A student failing an exam might blame “bad luck” rather than examining their study habits. Someone facing a medical decision may rely on superstition rather than research. In these cases, magical thinking offers comfort but removes personal responsibility and the ability to react proactively.

Reinforcement of Cognitive Bias: this is when we start seeing what we want to see instead of what actually is, like seeing patterns where none exist, remembering “signs” that confirm beliefs, and ignoring contradictory evidence. Over time, these biases can create frustration, anxiety, and repeated failures when reality refuses to align with wishful expectation.

Illusion of Control: If you believe your thoughts can move mountains, you’ll have no reason to pick up a shovel to move a mound. Magical thinking in adulthood creates the illusion of control where we might overestimate our ability to affect events, by assuming that wishing, praying, or hoping can substitute for effort, evidence, or strategy. Unrestrained faith in unseen forces often leads to passivity and denial. Adults who rely on magical thinking stop engaging with reality as it is and begin responding to reality as they wish it to be. The result is a mindset that feels empowering but quietly erodes responsibility, initiative, and progress.  

Projection of fault: when faced with anxiety, the emotional relief we get from magical thinking may provide short-term comfort, but it often leads to long-term frustration. When reality doesn’t align with fantasy, we may resort to blaming external bodies, the devil or perceived enemies for our failure.

Lack of Critical Thinking: Rational problem-solving involves defining the issue, gathering evidence and testing solutions. Magical thinking shortcuts this process— leading to poor decision-making and stagnation.

Avoidance of reality: It can lead to a rejection of reality by fantasizing about unrealistic outcomes, which prevents individuals from facing and working through problems in a practical way. 

Result: Poor diagnosis of problems and application of ineffective or irrelevant solutions.

Impact on Society: Group Dynamics and Social Problem Solving

If one person in a group, or a handful in a larger group act irrationally, they can be dismissed and labelled crazy or unserious. We may avoid them or patiently wait them out before proceeding with what we would consider more serious people or issues. It becomes a major societal concern when irrationality hits critical mass. Societies guided by illusion more often than not, struggle with public health, economics, and good governance.

Policy and Governance

Societies guided by magical or wishful thinking can adopt policies based on ideology or superstition instead of data. Demagogues may gain power without offering substantive solutions thereby, delaying evidence-based policies. Example: Ignoring scientific advice on climate change because “nature will fix itself”, or leaders appealing to emotional myths rather than evidence-based solutions.

Economic Decisions

Managing populations is always complex with a lot of nuances that must be addressed if justice and fairness is a priority for the people. When led by magical thinking, these complex issues are over-simplified into bumper sticker slogans where empirical data is ignored in favor of feel-good narratives. Policymakers, leaders, or even majority in the society adopt emotionally satisfying or ideologically driven beliefs about the economy that ignore evidence, logic, or trade-offs. It often reflects the wishful assumption that good intentions or rhetoric can override structural realities.

Public Health

We’ve seen magical thinking in pandemics —where reliance on superstition led people to  reject vaccines, believing myths over medicine. The promise of miracle cures increases the chance for exploitation and undermines trust in legitimate innovation.

Education and Knowledge

This is usually the first to be eroded when magical thinking dominates, scientific literacy declines. Students may value rote delivery over inquiry — weakening a society’s ability to innovate or be creative. Problems may persist across generations if practices based on superstition are never questioned.

Polarization and Social Fragmentation

Magical thinking often simplifies complex realities into dichotomies; “good & evil,” heroes & villains, thereby fueling conspiracy theories and division. Magical beliefs can lead to collective delusion that fuels mass hysteria, scapegoating, superstition-fueled violence or conspiracy theories that erodes public trust.

Resistance to Change

Magical thinking often resists falsifiability, hence the continued confidence in thinking that if you can’t prove me wrong, then I must be right. This makes it hard for individuals to adapt or evolve their understanding when new evidence emerges.

The challenge: Solving the Problem of Effective Problem-Solving

Can we honor the human need for wonder—without falling prey to delusion?

Let’s start with the obvious: Life is full of problems. Big ones like financial stress or family conflict. Small ones, like forgetting your keys or missing a deadline.

And the truth is—most of us were never taught how to handle these problems. We were taught how to follow rules, memorize facts, and pass exams. But not how to think clearly, manage stress, and act wisely under pressure.

Without good problem-solving habits, we:

• React emotionally instead of rationally

• Avoid tough decisions

• Make quick fixes that don’t last

That’s why learning a practical approach to solving problems is a game-changer.

So, if we have established that challenges are an unavoidable part of life and that magical thinking and religious surrender both lead to poor decisions, how then do we break free from them? How do we move from instinctive belief to deliberate reasoning — from passively hoping for outcomes to actively creating them?

How do we solve the problem of effective problem-solving?

The answer begins with awareness. Is there value in redefining and introducing life skills/soft skills training as an independent part of curriculum for school age children? To start at an early age to encourage a habit of personal reflection, inquiry and fact finding.

We must learn to recognize when our thinking is being driven by assumption, ritual, or submission to authority, rather than by evidence and logic. Asking simple but powerful questions — Why do I believe this? What evidence supports it? Who benefits from my belief? — we begin to restore control over our own minds. And it’s a habit that when introduced at an early age, can carry us into adulthood.

Next comes the most important, critical thinking — this is the disciplined practice of analysis, skepticism, and open-mindedness. It’s not cynicism; it’s clarity. It’s the courage to challenge comforting illusions and confront uncomfortable truths.

Collaboration and openness are also vital. Problem-solving requires dialogue across differences. Hierarchies, dogmas, and rigid ideologies — religious or otherwise — choke innovation, Communities thrive when diverse perspectives are encouraged and truth is valued over tradition.

Also of import is emotional resilience — this is our ability to face uncertainty without retreating into superstition or panic. The less we fear ambiguity, the less we need illusions to feel secure.

Finally, imagination and creativity remain powerful allies— but only when they serve reason. Hope, inspiration, and visualization can motivate progress, but they must be followed by deliberate, evidence-based action.

In essence, solving the problem of effective problem-solving means:

• Rejecting religious surrender and blind obedience.

• Promoting curiosity, critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning.

• Replacing faith-based comfort with evidence-based reasoning. (however uncomfortable)

• Promoting dialogue and education.

• Strengthening emotional resilience against uncertainty through mindful actions.

• Using imagination as a tool for progress, not as a substitute for thought.

 Only then can we build societies that are resistant to manipulation, preserve individual agency and promote effective problem-solving that is grounded in intelligence and our shared humanity. When we do this, when we learn to think critically, act collaboratively, and face reality with courage—magical thinking loses its grip. Problem-solving becomes not just an intellectual process but a moral one, which is: the choice to see the world with clarity and to take responsibility for shaping it.