I'd also point out that since it's a common cultural script, it's very easy for your search tree to locate it. And for it to go "sure, you said you don't believe this, but 90% of the world does so it's worth at least a second thought!". And the "Pascal's Wager"-esque situation that praying to god to make it unhappen has a very, very low cost, and even praying in advance seems unlikely to be costly...
I agree and I don't think you mean it that way, but I want to clarify that there wasn't any verbal deliberation at the time. I didn't actually go through the steps of thinking "Well, other people think..." or "It's worth shot..". It's just what happened.
Just like the reflexive "oh god no", but taken a little further to "Please please please let this just be a nightmare - no, this is definitely real. I have way too much context for this to be a dream." and so on.
Well, I used to think that I do not believe in anything supernatural that affects what happens to me, but I'm wondering if maybe I actually do alieve in it. For example, a few days ago I had a close call in traffic, and when a collision I fully expected to happen just a second prior did not transpire, I mentally thanked... whom? I definitely had a clear feeling of gratitude for escaping, and I don't normally mean it literally when I say "Thank God!". So, who or what did I feel thankful to? I've never been religious, and I got rid of most of my superstitions over the years, but apparently there is still something there, and I do not know how to react to this knowledge.
What would be the proper reaction after a close call? Shrug and say "got lucky this time, should be more cautious next time"? What about when waiting for a diagnosis, what does sort-of-praying "please, please, let everything be OK" say about one's true beliefs? I know that I am much better at not blaming the world when something bad happens to me by chance than at not thanking the world when something good happens. Should it not be symmetric? Which part of a normally non-religious person wakes up and asserts itself in a crisis situation out of their control? Should it be embraced, suppressed, worked on?