The Nuance

Why Human Beings Are Hardwired for Spirituality and ‘Magical Thinking’

How mystical beliefs help people control stress and confront the unknown

Markham Heid
Elemental
Published in
5 min readMar 11, 2021

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Illustration by Kieran Blakey for Elemental

There’s an old saying that goes “there are no atheists in foxholes.” There also seem to be fewer atheists in a pandemic.

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Markham Heid
Elemental

I’m a frequent contributor at TIME, the New York Times, and other media orgs. I write mostly about health and science. I like long walks and the Grateful Dead.