Zorro Dantes Posted April 21, 2021 would any of you guys flirt with the idea that luck is kind of like a byproduct of cause and effect just like karma perhaps? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stirling Posted April 21, 2021 Luck is what happens when you are in alignment with what wants to happen. What wants to happen is NEVER your projected ideas about what you think "should" happen, or your plans to manipulate things as they are to suit your whims. Sometimes it IS your intentions of loving kindness. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Owledge Posted April 21, 2021 7 hours ago, stirling said: Luck is what happens when you are in alignment with what wants to happen. What wants to happen is NEVER your projected ideas about what you think "should" happen, or your plans to manipulate things as they are to suit your whims. Sometimes it IS your intentions of loving kindness. Luck is perceived as desirable outcomes in a certain system. If the system is rotten and you go along with it, your chances of luck are greater because, using blissful ignorance, you can derive heart's joy from the path. Your attention focus likely influences it, too, which tends to play into said blissful ignorance if you only care about personal pleasure and not the implications and consequences. - But on the other hand, sometimes expression of negative emotions can lead to things going better, defying the whole positive-thinking bunk. The few instances of significant personal good luck that I remember involve spending a shitton of money for a brief period of unsustainable but slightly more pleasant life circumstances while being motivated by false hopes. - Something like that. It's hard to get an accurate read on the causality of luck when there are few examples to examine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stirling Posted April 21, 2021 8 hours ago, Owledge said: Luck is perceived as desirable outcomes in a certain system. If the system is rotten and you go along with it, your chances of luck are greater because, using blissful ignorance, you can derive heart's joy from the path. Your attention focus likely influences it, too, which tends to play into said blissful ignorance if you only care about personal pleasure and not the implications and consequences. - But on the other hand, sometimes expression of negative emotions can lead to things going better, defying the whole positive-thinking bunk. The few instances of significant personal good luck that I remember involve spending a shitton of money for a brief period of unsustainable but slightly more pleasant life circumstances while being motivated by false hopes. - Something like that. It's hard to get an accurate read on the causality of luck when there are few examples to examine. The idea of desirable or undesirable outcomes is problematic. Quote There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "May be," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "May be," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "May be," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said the farmer. Luck is the idea that there is an outcome that benefits "you" or that there is even a "self" to benefit from the outcome. This is a delusion. There is no good luck, any more than there are "human rights". It is the imaginary projected pattern on a patternless, seamless whole. When you are "one with the Dao" or acting from enlightened mind there is no resistance to things as they are. There is "May be" mind... or "Beginner's Mind" as Shunryu Suzuki would say. Without the attachments or aversions of the "self" in the way this moment is, simply, as it is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent thunder Posted April 21, 2021 Desirable outcomes is untenable territory for me for some time now... desirable for whom? And for how long? That veal dinner is tasty for me, very desirable, how lucky for me that lamb happened upon my path. Not so lucky for the lamb though? Luck is so subjective and temporary as to be rendered increasingly meaningless for me as years pass. Luck is a word and a concept I used to attribute to situations and events that I either liked, or didn't. Good. Bad. Any more, it's all life... sometimes I'm more able to appreciate the conditions than others. But luck? Like as an acting force in the aggregates of life? pfft. It's no longer a functional concept or descriptor for how I experience life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liminal_luke Posted April 22, 2021 Maybe luck is like yin and yang. You´ve got your yin and your yang, you´ve got your good luck and your bad luck. And you´ve got your yin within the yang, your yang within the yin. That´s second level. The luckiest thing is to see the good luck within the bad. Then nothing can touch you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted April 22, 2021 I enjoyed the way luck was framed in the Huainanzi through the parable of the farmer. Good news or bad news, can’t say... https://medium.com/@dineshsairam/the-chinese-farmer-and-his-horse-what-is-the-meaning-of-life-9fba73f689eb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
