feeling lucky?

[thelerner]

Religious Taoism seems to hold a special place for luck, though perhaps that isn't the right word. In the world of Fu's there seems to be a special consideration towards Joss, what makes you lucky or takes it away.

 

I've always considered myself lucky, born into a good family, healthy, given possibilities. I'm thinking about luck because yesterday I bought 3 lottery tickets. 2 for super powerball paying $400 million with odds to win 1 in 250 (or was it 175 mil) million. That much is too much, more likely to break a family apart then make living easier or more pleasurable.

 

To much travel and you move away from those you love. Too much luxury and it becomes a new set point and anything less becomes an annoyance.

 

The third ticket i bought was an instant ticket. I won $10, so up $5 in total.. so far.

 

What role does luck play in life?

[BaguaKicksAss]

I make luck incense, baths, and etc. .

 

For me luck is being healthy and having good friends. The warm roof over my head isn't bad either. Though I also really love little bits of surprise luck (I don't use my own incenses and etc. often, I make them for others), that just come about when really needed, or just out of the blue from time to time. You know those things which go against all odds, but bring either relief or a smile. I've won a couple of contests in my life, had some really interesting odds in my favor a few times, worked to change my luck when apartment or job hunting before, and my luck turned the opposite direction for the entire time I was married and a few years after! I mean was so bad that even my ex commented on it several times.

 

I have found that the stronger my spiritual connection is, and the more time/effort I put into my practice, the greater my natural luck is.

[ChiForce]

....

Luck, I believe within the context of Buddhism, is about karma...or karmic ties or karmic rewards. Other than being healthy, pretty advanced in my cultivation, stable family relationship but nothing great to talk about, luck really plays no role or little in my life. I never win anything. I never have unexpected good things happened to me. I seem to be a magnet for bad karmas from other people. I don't generally open up myself to people anymore. Luck or karmic rewards only seem to play a role in my life in my cultivation. That does not translate into material successes. Yeah, I played the powerball last night and I didn't win, despite that I have been dreaming about winning a jackpot lately. Maybe I am just preoccupied in my financial situation.

Edited February 20, 2014 by ChiForce

[Stosh]

As Im thinking of Luck, it is a characterization of events , grouping the events into "good" or "Bad" or 'Likely' or 'Unlikely".. and this is where the hitch lies.

For instance , if you were one of the few born into warm nurturing family, you could say it was Good luck...because you werent in existance to pick where and when youd be concieved. If you believe in Karma mediated reincarnation, well then the good family would have been a consequence of past lives rather than dumb random luck.

Thats pretty much the options,,, things are either caused ... or 'dumb random' defined.

 

So If one caused something

-- its not called "luck"

---and if its just random events,,

'luck' has no meaning.

 

Because this idea of luck falls apart rationally , I say its an artificial mental construct.

 

Its just an artificial 'grouping' made upon an incomplete consideration of pertinent data ( much of which you cannot know)

[thelerner]

Random recollection on 'luck' and/or its appearance.

I collect old 'wheaties', pennies minted 1958 and older, so I always check my change for them, I have since I was a kid. Needless to say they're getting rarer to find in change, but a few weeks ago I got a nice 1929 penny. It traveled through time, unmolested and uncollected for 85 years to wind up in my change.

 

My greatest find was in college. At bought candy and got 4 cents worth of change. All of them wheaties. I asked the woman to look in her penny slot to see if there were any more. She said 'They all are.' I gave her a buck and got them all, many of them were from the 40's with a few being '43 steel pennies. Not a financial windfall, most wheaties are worth a few pennies, but it makes for an enjoyable hunt.

 

edit 2/24/14 my son just gave me a 'fake' quarter that wouldn't work in his schools vending machine. It's a real 1936 silver quarter. It shows its age, but its amazing to find these in the public. He doesn't know where he got it. Interestingly enough I'd just been looking at youtube on how to make quarters into rings. Its very simple and silver quarters come out quite beautifully, especially after polish.

Edited February 24, 2014 by thelerner

[Marblehead]

I have always been unlucky so I found ways to make up for poor luck. It has worked pretty well so far.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Playing games I sometimes get ridiculous strings of positive dice results.

 

Always when I don't want to win.

 

When I don't want to upset the other person.

 

I want the other person to win.

 

That's when the double sixes start coming up again and again.

 

It's really dumb.

 

I hate beating the kids at board games.

...

[ChiDragon]

It's funny that I don't have much good luck and not much bad luck neither. Somehow, the luck seems to be with me all the time. Every time when I got to a point where my financial status was at a low point, then a hidden lump sum of money just showed up somewhere to easy my situation. The hidden lump sum of money was accumulated and multiplied from something that I had earned in the past. It was neglected and untouched until the time that I really need it. I would consider this kind of luck is always with me which doesn't make me rich but helped me to get by.

Edited February 20, 2014 by ChiDragon

[Aetherous]

"Luck is preparation multiplied by opportunity." - Seneca

 

A person who doesn't work toward a goal might be able to seize an opportunity that presents itself...and their luck might be good in some cases, for some amount of time.
A person who works toward a goal might not seize, or even recognize, an opportunity...their luck is bad.

A person might seize an opportunity but do no work to keep it, and the luck slips out of their hands.

The most lucky person will work hard toward good goals, and be on the lookout for opportunities, seizing them when they come along. They will make their own luck. This kind is better than the type of luck that just falls out of the sky into a random person's lap. The random type is an event that occurs, hopefully...but the self-made type is a process that forces events to occur.

Even the act of buying a lottery ticket can be considered work. Lets say a person who goes twice a week to the gas station to pick up a couple. It's a minimal investment, for a potentially huge reward, although the odds are very bad. But people do win. The critic will sit back and say "the odds are so bad, you will never win"...but the truth is that person will never win, because they never buy a ticket. That little bit of work involved is what causes the opportunity to make it happen. The doubt is what causes luck to be absent, moreso than the bad odds.

 

Now think about other examples, where a person has control over the odds. In some cases, it could be that 99% of the luck is preparation and hard work, and 1% is an opportunity recognized and taken. So basically...it's better to make things happen than to hope they happen. Look at all of the people who hope they win the lottery.

[ChiForce]

"Luck is preparation multiplied by opportunity." - Seneca

 

A person who doesn't work toward a goal might be able to seize an opportunity that presents itself...and their luck might be good in some cases, for some amount of time.

A person who works toward a goal might not seize, or even recognize, an opportunity...their luck is bad.

A person might seize an opportunity but do no work to keep it, and the luck slips out of their hands.

 

The most lucky person will work hard toward good goals, and be on the lookout for opportunities, seizing them when they come along. They will make their own luck. This kind is better than the type of luck that just falls out of the sky into a random person's lap. The random type is an event that occurs, hopefully...but the self-made type is a process that forces events to occur.

 

Even the act of buying a lottery ticket can be considered work. Lets say a person who goes twice a week to the gas station to pick up a couple. It's a minimal investment, for a potentially huge reward, although the odds are very bad. But people do win. The critic will sit back and say "the odds are so bad, you will never win"...but the truth is that person will never win, because they never buy a ticket. That little bit of work involved is what causes the opportunity to make it happen. The doubt is what causes luck to be absent, moreso than the bad odds.

 

Now think about other examples, where a person has control over the odds. In some cases, it could be that 99% of the luck is preparation and hard work, and 1% is an opportunity recognized and taken. So basically...it's better to make things happen than to hope they happen. Look at all of the people who hope they win the lottery.

You are assuming you can control the outcome of your actions. Easy stuff yes. More difficult endeavors like in a relationship or marriage or endeavors that you have become too attached to. Usually, in these situations, you are just going with the flow. Luck is what luck is. Things turning out good regardless what you do. Like being ticketed by the cops but the cops decided not to show up during the court hearing and the tickets are dismissed. You have no ideas why the cops didn't show up and etc. Or your old credit card company is after you with a lawsuit, for money. But you managed to get the entire debt erased because the plaintiff wasn't able to produce any evidence to prove that you owed the credit card money. Or someone is trying to kill you with their SUV because you are riding your bicycle. For some reasons maybe because of your chi, you didn't collide with the SUV on the side even though you only have 4 seconds to come to a full stop traveling at 23mph. And somehow, you did a Matrix move in slow motion and did a 90 degree controlled powerslide and ended not hitting the side of the SUV. Oh yeah, that was some experience...heheheh Yeah, I usually get lucky when my life was in danger.

Edited February 21, 2014 by ChiForce