Wei: You’re putting the bed there?
Arjun: Yes. Why?
Wei: Your feet will face the door.
Arjun: I’m aware of the revolutionary discovery.
Wei: Arjun, I’m serious. Don’t do that.
Arjun: Why? Is the door going to attack my feet?
Wei: Very funny. You know the tradition. In Chinese culture, you don’t sleep with your feet pointing toward the door. It resembles how a corpse is carried out of a room.
Arjun: Ah. The famous “dead body position.”
Wei: Exactly.
Arjun: So if I sleep like that, what happens?
Wei: It’s considered bad luck. It can bring negative energy into the house.
Arjun: Negative energy? Like electricity?
Wei: You know what I mean.
Arjun: Actually, I don’t. If there’s a measurable form of energy that travels from the door to my feet while I sleep, I’d be very interested. We could probably sell it to SP Group.
Wei: You always have to turn everything into science.
Arjun: Because science is annoyingly good at checking whether things are actually true.
Wei: Look, I’ve grown up hearing this. My grandmother never allowed anyone to sleep with their feet facing the door. She said it was disrespectful to the dead.
Arjun: That makes more sense to me. As a cultural symbol, I can understand it.
Wei: But it’s not just symbolism. My cousin once rearranged his bed this way and had terrible luck for months.
Arjun: What kind of terrible luck?
Wei: His car broke down. He lost money on an investment. Then he had a fight with his girlfriend.
Arjun: And before that, his life was perfect?
Wei: No. But still.
Arjun: That’s exactly the problem. Humans are extremely good at connecting unrelated events.
Wei: You’re saying my cousin imagined it?
Arjun: Not imagined the events. The car really broke down. The investment really lost money. The argument really happened. But there’s no evidence the position of his bed caused any of them.
Wei: Maybe you just don’t understand how these things work.
Arjun: Maybe. But then we should be able to test it.
Wei: How?
Arjun: Take a hundred people who sleep with their feet facing the door and a hundred who don’t. Track their health, accidents, financial problems, relationship issues, sleep quality—everything. If the superstition is right, the first group should consistently have worse outcomes.
Wei: That sounds complicated.
Arjun: Exactly. Reality usually is.
Wei: But these traditions survived for hundreds of years. Surely there must be a reason.
Arjun: There can be a reason without the supernatural explanation being true.
Wei: Explain.
Arjun: Imagine people in the past regularly saw dead bodies being carried out feet-first through doors. Over generations, that image becomes associated with death. Eventually, people start thinking, “Don’t position a sleeping person that way.” It becomes a cultural rule.
Wei: So you’re saying the tradition came from psychology?
Arjun: Possibly. More broadly, from cultural memory and symbolism. And honestly, that’s quite interesting. You don’t need ghosts to explain it.
Wei: But there’s something uncomfortable about sleeping like that.
Arjun: That I believe.
Wei: See!
Arjun: No, listen. If you’ve been taught since childhood that the position is associated with death, your brain can automatically find it disturbing. That’s a real psychological response. But feeling uncomfortable doesn’t prove that something supernatural is happening.
Wei: Hmm.
Arjun: Same thing with horror movies. You know the monster isn’t real, but your heart still jumps when something suddenly appears on screen.
Wei: That’s different.
Arjun: Your brain doesn’t always wait for a scientific paper before producing a reaction.
Wei: Fair point.
Arjun: And there’s another possibility. Maybe people simply slept better with their beds positioned differently because of practical reasons—light, airflow, privacy, or the layout of old houses. Then the practical preference gradually became a cultural rule.
Wei: Singapore apartments don’t exactly have ancient palace layouts.
Arjun: Exactly. We’ve got HDB flats, air-conditioning, lifts, MRT noise and someone drilling into a wall at 8:03 on Saturday morning.
Wei: Don’t remind me.
Arjun: If something is keeping me awake, it’s not my feet facing the door. It’s my neighbour renovating his entire flat with a hammer.
Wei: Okay, that’s definitely a stronger threat.
Arjun: Thank you.
Wei: But I still wouldn’t sleep that way.
Arjun: That’s completely fine.
Wei: You’re not going to argue?
Arjun: No. There’s a difference between saying, “I don’t like this tradition,” and saying, “This position scientifically causes bad luck.”
Wei: So you respect the tradition even though you don’t believe the superstition?
Arjun: Absolutely. I can respect your grandmother, your culture and the meaning attached to the tradition without believing the universe is keeping a spreadsheet of everyone’s sleeping positions.
Wei: You make it sound ridiculous.
Arjun: I’m trying to make you laugh, not insult your culture.
Wei: I know.
Arjun: And honestly, if keeping your feet away from the door makes you sleep peacefully, do it. Good sleep matters.
Wei: That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said tonight.
Arjun: I’ve said many sensible things tonight.
Wei: You compared supernatural energy to SP Group.
Arjun: Which was scientifically excellent.
Wei: Fine. I’ll move the bed.
Arjun: Really?
Wei: Yes. My feet won’t face the door.
Arjun: Why?
Wei: Because I don’t want to spend the night thinking about corpses.
Arjun: That’s actually a scientifically reasonable reason.
Wei: Don’t get excited.
Arjun: Too late.
Wei: And don’t put your feet toward the door either.
Arjun: Why?
Wei: Because if something supernatural happens, I’m not sleeping next to you.
Arjun: Deal.
Wei: Finally, some wisdom.
Arjun: But if you wake up tomorrow and your feet are facing the door—
Wei: What?
Arjun: We’ll blame the interior designer.
Wei: Arjun!
Arjun: I’m kidding!
Science Vs Superstition 
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