A Wish Upon A Bone

Have you ever wished upon a bone?
Ever considered by whom, or what, the wish may be granted?

The Wishbone experiment:
The wishbone experiment is a suggestion for a simple, ongoing, practical and cheap (free) exploration of the power (or lack thereof ) of the supernatural. However, before I venture into the substance of the experiment, I think I should first make an attempt at defining a wish.

Firstly, for any successful wishing ritual there are a number of components which must be present.

The Components

The wish legend - the story of how the wishing 'lens' got it's power.
The wisher - the invoker or maker of the wish.
The wishing lens - the conduit to the wish granter (Wishing well etc.).
The wish granter - the 'power' which grants the wish.
The wish beneficiary - the recipient of the wisher's desire (wisher not excluded).
The wish effect - the wisher's desired outcome.

Secondly and perhaps more importantly there is the substance of wishing.

The Substance

As mentioned in the wishing components there is always a wish legend which primes the potential wisher's psyche with hope or belief of success. However, it is rarely clear from where the power to grant the wish effect comes. The granter of the effect is often unnamed, unknown, shapeless and the wisher is almost always putting faith for the wish's success in this unspoken power.
So, I think it's fair to suggest that the substance of a wish is...
A silent appeal to an unnamed 'greater' force of magic, or to some universal Gaiia, or a God, to grant 'this' small change in the space-time continuum to fulfil 'this' specific request.
Or, more succinctly, a tiny silent prayer is probably a sufficient definition.
If you disagree let me know.

Right, you've likely forgotten, but this is all a preface to an experiment.

We have all heard that if two people take hold of the wishbone of a chicken with their pinkie fingers and pull until it breaks, the one winning the largest piece gets a tiny silent prayer granted.
The wishbone experiment is simple in essence, whether you are a wishbone wrestler who presumes a supernatural level to the universe or not I suggest that next time you pull a wishbone, or every time, at your discretion, you wish 'wishbone be whole again.'

It's a nothing wish; not really a stretch for any mighty wish granting power worth wishing to. And it's just a little bone that's never going to have any impact on anything important in the universe. However, if even one 'wishbone be whole again' wish were to be 'granted' it would, I think, be evidence for the supernatural. And with millions of chickens consumed every day, so millions of wishbones pulled, would this not give us millions of chances every day of discovering if there is anything to this wishing lark?
Providing everyone is honest about their wishing failure rates, as the experiment progresses, the true 'power' of wishing would become clear.

For any of those who believe in the supernatural but choose not to make the wish, this is evidence that you do not want your magical fantasy to end, you do not want the 'power' exposed as fake, you want to keep living in your little bubble of pretend.

If, as those of us who are reasonable would assume, it will become clear that wishing on a wishbone is nonsense, I suggest it would also be safe to assume that for all other traditional wishing situations, first star at night, shooting star, birthday candles etc. the same 'nonsense' tag would also apply.

Merely repeating the 'wishbone be whole again' wish to others, as either a helpful suggestion or, for those who believe, a dare, doesn't sound like much...
'what good will that do?' I've been asked.
I say maybe nothing but what if it were to engender an irresistible supernatural challenging meme, a subconscious confrontation of the wish ritual which has the possibility to become entangled with, even, eventually, strangle the wish legend itself?
Bit of a stretch? Maybe, but considering that religiously motivated suicide bombers are made from the same substance whence wishes come, if there's even a chance of 'wishbone be whole again' crushing some small portion of the all pervasive fallasphere⁽¹⁾, it has got to be worth promoting, hasn't it? Every little helps etc.

While we are here, there's an option for a secondary experiment but I can't quite get my head around it, or what it would achieve. Anyway, for a laugh check this, it's a bit of a time loop paradox...
If one were to not simply wish 'wishbone be whole again' but rather to wish for the wishbone to have never been torn asunder, then the wish for it to have never been torn asunder could not have worked because the wishbone was never split, so the wish cannot have started, so it must not have worked...
However, would it not also, and simultaneously, be proof that the wish did work because the wishbone is whole again? Would that not be proof that wishes both do and don't work?
Hurts your head this supernatural nonsense!!



Anyway next time you pull a wishbone give it a try.
Wish for 'wishbone be whole again' but most importantly enjoy your chicken.



This is one of the Too Many Questions

PEACE
Crispy

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