A friend of mine used to tweet a phrase that always sticks with me: “Some people are lucky, some people are not.” That was some years ago, and the more I live now, the more I see (& realized/learned) that it’s true. Most people seriously underestimate how luck plays a BIG/HUGE factor in their lives. Or in life, for all that matters. I don’t know and I’m not sure if it’s due to the meritocracy thing (“If you work hard, you WILL succeed/reach success!”), or if it’s due to the ‘positive/optimistic’ self-help culture/trend/hype that is literally almost everywhere nowadays, etc etc. But I think it’s very naive, simplistic, & ignorant if people seriously believe that they control ALL and EVERY aspect of their life/lives.
Even the posts here in this website that will get popular & many comments, and other posts that get almost no view/comment or even banned/deleted (even though when they’re really good posts, but sadly just very underrated or underappreciated), it also has the ‘luck’ factor in it. And as a result (or even the fatal consequences), no wonder some people in this website will feel even more alone, unloved, nobody cares, and some of them will probably even decide to be ‘gone forever’ by committing suicide.
But back to the main point again: if you really think much more deeper, you will see that it’s all random (yes, somewhat nihilistic). Some people will win, & some people will lose. Some people will survive & live, while some people will die. I always view our human species just like those little ants: There are billions of them on this planet, and some will get crushed & die, while some other will survive & live. That’s basically our human life too. In fact, it’s ALL lives in this universe. Some will live; Some will die.
Lastly, it’s the same thing with all of us here who are depressed & suicidal. You take a look at all your other friends, family, colleagues, or people, and how they somehow are happy, or even successful, and then you think: “Why I can’t be like that too?”, even though you’ve tried or even work really hard. And then even when you eventually see how some of us in this website can finally recover, cured, healed, & finally lead a normal, happy, & successful life too, it will make you think the same again: “Why I can’t be like them?”.
I don’t know if it’s god, karma, universe, destiny, fate, or just simply pure random chances. But to say that you don’t believe in luck, playing at least SOME aspects/parts in your life, that’s just naive, ignorant, & too simple-minded. People who said that probably haven’t truly ‘open their eyes & wake-up’ to reality.
9 comments
if youre smart enough to think about the pros/cons and consequences of an action then no its not luck its understanding life.
Rubbish. Have seen people who won the genetic lottery make the most appalling decisions and still come out on top.
We’re a stupid species with a pecking order, and where on that pecking order you’re born determines your entire life.
id love to see how you explain the people born rich that fail and the poor people that make it to the top.
its not my fault you cant think about your actions, because i can and because of that my life isnt doing too bad.
No. That is little like saying that if you are smart enough, you can predict the lottery. The “smart” ones know that it cannot be predicted.
It is not possible to predict Brownian motion, one can only try to maximize the expected outcome. In the case of lottery this is achieved by not playing.
In some dynamical systems small variations in initial conditions evolve into massive changes over time. These systems are called chaotic. Even if you had the preternatural ability to perfectly compute the future from a given time frame, I suspect you would still fail in the end because the uncertainity principle dictates that you cannot have perfect knowledge of the initial data.
This is a great, honest post that everyone needs to swallow. Luck, or randomness, plays a HUGE role in everyone’s life. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone whose loved one was killed in a car crash, or a blood clot, or even cancer. Some people make it through life avoiding these things. Others, not so lucky. Emphasis on “lucky”.
We do ourselves a disservice by thinking hard work and dedication always = happiness. Ask anyone who is truly successful, and they will always say luck had a lot to do with it. Sure hard work is almost always part of the equation, but just like my example of the car crash, most of the significant events that happen to us in life are pure dumb luck. Work as hard as you can but don’t expect that to be your golden ticket.
Believe luck is not random. These are blessings. Gifts given to every single one of us to recognize as such. No expert here although speaking through experience.
Personally, many to me have been taken. Via suicide. My grandmother, my father, my brother and lastly my eldest son (direct line) as well as a few cousins. I have lost others for other health reasons as well. I have nearly died myself.
IT was after all of this and through many tears, questions and honesty in wanting to know theTRUTH, small miracles began happening in my life. Fluke, destiny, fate, chance, luck, whatever WORD works to fit your understanding. Words used myself were, coincidence and synchronicity. IT took some time, but after too many to be ignored as simply coincidence , totally bizarre , surreal, unreal, phenomenal, paranormal like occurances (over years) (my lifetime) began to be seen or understood rather different than they ever had before. My sanity was questioned, even by myself. Perspective, angle, of nearly almost every thing connected dots for me quicker than I could keep up. My head still swirls at the wonderment. Recognition.
Life is a game in a sense. People who say luck got them there are most likely not telling the truth in it`s entirety. Same way as we ask others how they are doing and get the reply fine. Simple escape to not open boxes such as the one in stories of Schrodinger`s cat, and Pandora. These boxes inside boxes.
My father was a rambling man and my mother was a tailor. In real life. Out of the blue, this randomness spoke of, began to make sense in quite an unimaginable way. I feel in my heart that finding your connection to the matrix is key.
God/Karma/Universe/etc., willing, others will question yet feel truth and honesty in what said here and learn to hone their craft. I AM yet in training but hope a little ray of my sunshine touches someone warmly and fills with love and understanding. Reasons to keep on hanging on, All the Right Reasons.
That is true.
If you work hard (and are intelligent, charismatic, attractive etc.), then you significantly increase your chances of success. But you could still get hit by a bus while crossing the street.
And unfortunately, you can’t really choose to be attractive, intelligent, or charismatic. Nature and society distribute those gifts. And the choice to work hard also depends on you being gifted the drive/motivation to do so. No one decides to be lazy/depressed from a position of neutrality. Their mind convinces them it’s pointless/hopeless to do something, and so they don’t. Failure may be your ‘fault’, but the fact that you’re faulty is ultimately down to luck.
From Compellingtruth.org:
What does the Bible teach about luck?
The word “luck” does not appear in the Bible (except in the paraphrase The Message which uses it as slang or to mean “blessing”).
Luck has two somewhat contradictory meanings. The original term is related to destiny as pre-determined by a deity or force—what we might call providence. Eastern religions in particular believe luck can be somewhat controlled by superstitious actions. Religious rites are performed (like rubbing the stomach of a Buddha statue or lighting incense) to induce supernatural powers to change the fortune of an adherent.
Today luck more often refers to an event that is out of the control of those involved and has significant repercussions, whether good or bad. This type of luck is related to the chaos theory which points out that most situations are affected by so many elements the outcome appears random and certainly unpredictable.
The Bible rejects the second type of luck and is cautious with the first. God cannot be manipulated to endow good fortune through superstitious practices. And His omniscience precludes the existence of any truly random event. The Bible does use the word “chance” on occasion, but not as a completely unforeseen event; it generally indicates that the people involved had no way of knowing something would occur, but it doesn’t follow that God didn’t know.
The idea of luck brings up a difficult theological discussion: does God ordain everything that happens to us, or does He let nature and human choice play out to their inevitable end? The answer is a confusing “both.” We do often bear the repercussions of choices—ours and others—without the apparent interference of God. In other cases, He acts in a way we call “miracles.” How, when, and why He acts are usually hidden from us. But whether He ordained it or allowed it to happen, He did allow it. He is in control, orchestrating natural consequences and miracles in a way that will bring honor to Him and salvation to us.
What the Bible categorically condemns is the use of superstition to gain the favor of God or any deity to bring fortunate results. Religious rites to draw luck from a pagan god are useless, as pagan gods don’t exist and, therefore, can’t act on behalf of anyone. And God so hates being manipulated by worship practices that He’d rather we abandon those traditions He put into place and worship Him from the heart than obey Him for the sole purpose of gaining favor (Amos 5:21-24).
That being said, should a Christian own a lucky charm or engage in superstitious actions such as wearing the same socks to every baseball game? If the charms, such as a rabbit’s foot, a horseshoe, or an elephant with an up-raised trunk, are non-religious and used in a way that represents a culture and not in a way that causes another to stumble or attempts to gather actual fortune, it’s probably all right. Rituals can be used to calm nerves or mentally prepare for an event. But we should all recognize that nothing is truly random, and God cannot be manipulated by four-leafed clovers or dirty socks. Time would be better spent by following God, preparing for that game, and not risking anything too dear in poker.
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What is said (written) here ties into much of this string. Perhaps even to the Cat in the Hat, a neuralyzer, mission impossible, those men in black, Harry Potter, Dueling Banjos, Deliverence, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Devil went down to Georgia, Cats Cradle, into infinity.