Blessings and curses are all around us. Most of them happen in our minds. We curse our enemies in our minds, at times asking God to intervene and bring misfortune to our enemies or even emasculate them and erase their identity from existence. We bless the ones we like or love, asking God to bring them good fortune, be it here or in the next world. We have an impressive assortment of methods to curse and bless others, and sometimes – ourselves. Rituals, chants, dances, prophecies, prayers, psalms, ancient artifacts, manuscripts, voodoo dolls, demeaning or uplifting gestures, the evil eye, the list is endless.

Now, skeptics are going to tell you that, for example, a curse is a matter of auto-suggestion. When someone says they curse you, somewhere deep down, you might start to believe it, thereby bringing about bad luck which is only going to reinfornce you belief in being cursed, bringing about a catch-22 or a vicious circle scenario. A self-fulfilling prophecy, if you will.

Same with a blessing. How can you tell who’s actually blessed and who wants to believe he or she’s been blessed? For example, there are people who are convinced they are blessed by the holy spirit and have the gift of tongues. But is it just their........

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