Imagemaker
laura_borealis said:Many people have negative associations with 666. When I was a cashier, the total $6.66 would come up by random chance now and then. I'd say 75% of people whose total was the "number of the beast" would buy something else, such as a piece of candy, to bump the amount up. They'd laugh at themselves, but they'd still do it.
Superstition runs so, so deep--in our reptilian brain (amygdala? I love that word!). I guess it serves a self-protective function, but can so often be misapplied.
Crowley called himself The Beast for this very reason (allusions to Bibilical 666 fears)--to set people on edge, to taunt their fears and see what they would do.