"Unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true."
I really think religion promotes this kind of thinking. I feel good when I sing in church therefore the religion must be true. It makes me happy to think there is life after death so my religion must be true. Thinking of a god makes me feel safe and secure so it must be true. It's all about feelings, no thought out evidence supported beliefs. Religion is all based on magical thinking.
When an economic system starts to fail, and the wealth of nations is accumulated in just a few hands, that society collapses too. An economic system has to be constantly circulating the wealth to be able to support a society. When it stops circulating and gets captured at the top by Kings, Queens, Slave Masters, Plantation owners, Princes, billionaires, dictators and CEOs, then it stagnates and starts to crumble.
With this obvious failure of the economy to support everyone, comes magical thinking because effort, work and mastery of technical issues do not bring any wealth. The only route remaining to gain enough wealth to survive is luck. The luck to be born the right color. The luck to be born to the right rich woman. The luck to be born to the the right family. The luck to have picked the right career path. The luck to kiss up to the right king. The luck to be born without a conscious to be able to spread lies without blinking.
When luck is the only thing that gains you success then all sorts of magical, feel good thinking seems to be justified. No one can control luck but we all hope for some because hard work and accomplishments mean nothing when the economy is failing.
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