You might also be interested in
Replies (35)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Luck is a state of mind
There are so many things that are not under our control. You can be born into a good family, or a bad one. You can have wealthy parents with influence that give you the best possible start in life, or you can be born to abusive parents and spend the rest of your life trying to escape the horrors you have seen and suffered.
Luck is in the mind. There are those who think they get good things purely because they deserve them, and there are many who take nothing for granted and are thankful that they received an opportunity. You can be the most hard working person on the planet, but unless the right opportunity comes your way it will be an uphill struggle. The lack of opportunities should not always be put down to lack of hard work or intelligence.
You can get identical 'bad' incidents and one guy may say he had terrible bad luck, and another guy may say he was very lucky as it could have been much worse!
EDIT: I fit into the latter category :)
Interesting Article
Totally agree that you create your own luck. sometimes it is just being at the right place at right time. The only way for luck to change is to work hard and just get out there instead of cursing one's luck.
One thing i have learned in life don't expect things to happen as they don't. Just relax and go with flow. It it doesn't happen shrug your shoulders and move on. Negativety breeds mrore negativety and perhaps brings bad luck.
I have worked very very hard to make use of my limited talents and years ago recall being part qualified accountant thinking how do I got a job. Found a temporary job which ended up to be my dream job. i.e travelling around the world to my favourite destinations. That was lucky.
Accountants Luck
Louis Pasteur said that "Luck comes to the prepared mind," a quote I took on board many years ago. I always thank him and Lord Sugar for my luck. When computers began to be generally available I purchased a 10mb Amstrad 1510 and the original Sage Software programme. and by 1989 found I was experienced enough to apply for jobs paying nearly twice my previous salary simply because of my computer knowledge. Over the next 10 years I found myself as much a trouble-shooter as an accountant as I was employed by companies to assist and advise in setting up accounting systems and help maintain computer networks. As it became more complicated I settled down to just doing the accounts and keeping up with relevant accounting software and had an enjoyable final 8 years to retirement on a 3 day week with a company as well as developing SecretariuS Limited for private work (Co. Sec and Accounts) 3 years into retirement I still do around 4 hours a day with clients I get on with working mostly from home. This supplements my private pension which I saved for from my 20's due to listening to advice when the Prudential was my employer.
I believe I have made my own luck through hard work, having an open (prepared) mind, and if I am allowed to mention such things, being a regular churchgoer and following the Christian ideals I have learned through my life.
Churchgoing can lead to very bad luck indeed.
I have made my own luck through hard work, ... being a regular churchgoer and following the Christian ideals
I doubt that one of the many children raped by pervert Christian priests whose abuse was facilitated by their power-crazed religious bosses would feel the same way. I think they would feel they had been very unlucky.
The priests might feel they had made their own luck, though.
BTW what are Christian ideals?
Churchgoing can lead to very good luck indeed
Chatman, I have considered a long response to what superficially appears to be an attack on the church, but I am mindful that this is an accountancy website, not a religious one, so I will be brief. One Christian ideal that I hold to is one of acceptance of the religious beliefs of others. I am among millions of people worldwide who derive great strength from their spiritual beliefs ( I prefer the term spiritual beliefs as "religion" seems to require dominance) which enables many of us to do our best to serve others, in mine and many others' case through accountancy services. I feel very lucky (or blessed) that I have a personal relationship with God.
BTW try googling "Christian Ideals" - you will see many people have different ideas so good luck with that!
If we can focus on supporting rather than attacking each other on this website I think we will all feel much luckier.
Accountants Luck
I agree that "pure" luck is winning the lottery, but I would prefer the definitions from the article and from Pasteur's premise. It is often possible to make our own luck by looking for and seeing opportunities and then grabbing them. Be aware though that an opportunity can fail. Luck can be be interpreted as chance. We need to be aware of chances in life and making the most of them. Going around with our eyes shut or completely lacking in ambition will seriously reduce the chances of success. In order to win the lottery, for example, you do need to first buy a ticket.
You can put yourself in a position to increase your chances
Good or bad luck doesn't have to be random and chances aren't equal for everyone, We can all put ourselves in a better position to improve our chances of being lucky. As the above poster says, you have to buy a lottery ticket to have a chance of winning - however lucky you are, you won't win it without.
Two of the jobs I had earlier in my career were obtained solely because I knew the business owners personally. Some would say that I was lucky to get those jobs. But, I'd counter that by saying that I wouldn't have got those jobs if I wasn't good at my job and if my personality wouldn't have fitted it with them. So, whilst "luck" had a part for the introduction, it was my other skills that sealed the deal. In both cases, it didn't work out for me and I ended up leaving after relatively short time, so rather than "good" luck, you could say that I had "bad" luck with those jobs.
Lots of people talk about being in the right place at the right time, but you can put yourself in a better position to put yourself in the right place. You can open yourself to be receptive to new opportunities, personal and business, Luck is only half the story - no amount of being lucky will help you if you're blind to, and not receptive to, opportunities that are within your grasp.
I think personality
plays a large part of the perception of being "lucky" . What's the old saying "bullshit baffles brains" another one is "if you fell in a bucket of smelly stuff you would come up smelling of roses".
Is it "lucky" to win £160m on the lottery? It's certainly lucky if your numbers come up but winning a large amount could be just as "unlucky" as "lucky". Many would say "I wouldn't mind a bit of that "unluck".
Some people think they have a "guardian Angel" looking after them etc.
Luck
Who's quote was 'It seems that the harder I try, the luckier I become'? Or, indeed, how many successful people put this down to being in 'the right place at the right time', or 'getting a lucky break'?
I reckon that people put themselves in the right place, at the right time and make the conditions right for the lucky break to happen....
On the other hand, the same people don't seem to be cursed with bad luck - setbacks occur and there are failures along the way, but these seem to be temporary. When asked, they will attribute their successes to good luck, and their setbacks to themselves.
Luck, by definition, cannot be made.
Who's quote was 'It seems that the harder I try, the luckier I become'?
Anyone who wants to imply that their luck was actually down to their own skill and/or hard work. There are a lot of these people about.
Glass half full or half empty?
I am half lucky..
....if I was really lucky I would be managing partner of PWC,,actually make that Goldman Sachs
If I was really unlucky I would have been Enron partner at Arthur Andersen
christian ideals
In 1988 there was a knock on the door of my flat and a young lady asked me if I believed in god and did I want to be a jehovas witness etc. I was studying for PE11 that day which was why I was in at 2.30pm. I said I didnt sorry...she said what do you believe in then? and I said The ICAEW and she said whats that and I showed her the members handbook and said it was my bible.
She was very pleased with the reply and as I recall she was off to ring up the people at moorgate to enlist as a trainee.... I may have converted her...
Well the first bits true anyway :)
Defending Evil
Churchgoing can lead to very good luck indeed
How?
One Christian ideal that I hold to is one of acceptance of the religious beliefs of others.
What do you mean by "acceptance of the religious beliefs of others"? I accept that people have different beliefs to mine: sexist one, racist ones, religious ones etc; but I do not have to agree with them. If I believe a belief is wrong I question it; if I believe an organisation, such as the Catholic or Anglican church, is harmful, I will say so, and if I think that raping children is wrong, or discriminating against women and homosexuals, I will say so too. What is wrong with that? Do you mean I should refrain from criticising practices that I consider harmful? If not, then what do you mean?
In any case, to be a specifically Christian ideal, it would have to be an ideal not held by the majority of the human race, otherwise it is just a human ideal. Do you have any evidence that Christians are more accepting of other religious beliefs than non-Christians? And have you ever heard of the Spanish Inquisition? I understand they were not all that accepting of the religious beliefs of others.
I am among millions of people worldwide who derive great strength from their spiritual beliefs which enables many of us to do our best to serve others
How sad that you require a religion in order to help other people. Most people I know seem to manage to do good of their own accord. As far as I know, this is a normal human trait.
"religion" seems to require dominance
I agree. How sad.
try googling "Christian Ideals" - you will see many people have different ideas so good luck with that!
My question was what Lockhartca meant by "Christian ideals". How will Google know what he or she means? Feel free to tell me what you think they are.
If we can focus on supporting rather than attacking each other on this website I think we will all feel much luckier.
I agree that we should refrain from attacking each other; that is why I did not attack any AWeb member, although I admit I may have offended any paedophile priest who might have been reading this thread.
Accepting each other
Chatman, thanks for the response. Found the last bit very amusing.
As to your question "How" please reread my post. I will pray for divine intervention that you understand how.
As to the rest I found your response interesting and thought provoking but my lunch hour is over. Never used permalink before but if helps to contact you more directly I might find the time to look into this tomorrow. Anyway, as your post has nothing to do with luck perhaps a new subject matter post might be more appropriate. Don't think people looking how to be lucky will want to see a debate of this nature! They will think how unlucky they were - not good!
Rewrite the post
As to your question "How" please reread my post. I will pray for divine intervention that you understand how.
Reread it. Definitely doesn't answer the question. Suggest you try again, I wouldn't recommend praying, unless you have any convincing evidence that it does anything other than make the prayer feel they have done something useful.
How best to spend lunch time
Wow. After reading through your latest post I realised that what started out as what I felt was a lighthearted almost frivolous string started by the original author, it has taken on a much deeper tone. I do not have the time to carefully construct every word I write on a lighthearted post - I (obviously nievely) did not consider that what I wrote would be looked at in so much detail by anyone. Anyway, I will as briefly as possible attempt to answer a few of your questions:
I wrote:
I am among millions of people worldwide who derive great strength from their spiritual beliefs which enables many of us to do our best to serve others
You wrote:
How sad that you require a religion in order to help other people. Most people I know seem to manage to do good of their own accord. As far as I know, this is a normal human trait.
So a better word instead of "enabled" would have been "helped". I do not require a religion at all - I have a direct connection to God, the Church is a means of strengthening this connection. I do my best to do good of my own accord, and my spiritual beliefs assist this - like a turbocharger. I find it sad that many people restrict their potential because they have no spiritual dimension.
You wrote:
Reread it. Definitely doesn't answer the question. Suggest you try again, I wouldn't recommend praying, unless you have any convincing evidence that it does anything other than make the prayer feel they have done something useful.
The question - How?
I feel very lucky (or blessed) that I have a personal relationship with God. - original post
OK, to be more correct in my construction I should have added "Churchgoing can lead to very good luck indeed" if it strengthens your connection to God because in my personal opinion it will lead to more confidence and conviction in your purpose in life. I do not have time to go into this further - I am an accountant, not a theologist or philosopher!
http://www.guideposts.org/answered-prayer-stories
http://epistle.us/answeredprayer.html
btw, if you want convincing evidence prayer works, I suggest following these links as above
If you and I were in the pub having a philosophical debate, I would be happy to have this discussion further as there is much to unpack in your comments. It is obvious chatman that you like to chat. I am happier serving my clients so I am going to do that now.
I will not be returning to this string until my work/life balance is more balanced!
I do not see how religion can help anyone other than a priest
I wrote:
I am among millions of people worldwide who derive great strength from their spiritual beliefs which enables many of us to do our best to serve others
You wrote:
How sad that you require a religion in order to help other people. Most people I know seem to manage to do good of their own accord. As far as I know, this is a normal human trait.
So a better word instead of "enabled" would have been "helped". I do not require a religion at all - I have a direct connection to God, the Church is a means of strengthening this connection. I do my best to do good of my own accord, and my spiritual beliefs assist this - like a turbocharger. I find it sad that many people restrict their potential because they have no spiritual dimension.
How does your religion help you to be a good person and what potential is restricted by having no "spiritual dimension" (by which I assume you mean believing in gods and venerating priests)?
You wrote:
Reread it. Definitely doesn't answer the question. Suggest you try again, I wouldn't recommend praying, unless you have any convincing evidence that it does anything other than make the prayer feel they have done something useful.
The question - How?
I feel very lucky (or blessed) that I have a personal relationship with God. - original post
You appear to be confusing cause and effect. If good luck led you to going to your temple and having a personal relationship with a god, then this relationship didn't cause the luck, the luck caused the relationship.
[quote=hockleyaccountant]"Churchgoing can lead to very good luck indeed" if it strengthens your connection to God because in my personal opinion it will lead to more confidence and conviction in your purpose in life.[quote] How could this possibly be true?
[quote=hockleyaccountant]I do not have time to go into this further - I am an accountant, not a theologist or philosopher![quote] I don't think anything more than basic reasoning skills are required, although priests might say otherwise, to make their business sound more complicated and to discourage people from arguing with them.
[quote=hockleyaccountant]
http://www.guideposts.org/answered-prayer-stories
http://epistle.us/answeredprayer.html
http://101prayer.com/
btw, if you want convincing evidence prayer works, I suggest following these links as above[quote]
I looked at the first one. It was a story about someone who prayed that something would happen, and it happened. There seems to be some implication that praying for the thing caused it to happen. This appears to fail the most basic scientific test of proof, as there is no way of knowing whether the thing would have happened if the person had not prayed. I really cannot see how anyone could consider this to be convincing evidence. George Carlin did a great sketch about religion and he covered the praying thing. I highly recommend it. You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjVLJKR6g7U
Incidentally, I find it amazing that people believe that God will accede to their requests for special treatment like ensuring they arrive at a dinner in time (the first example on the first page you linked to), but then go and starve a little child, or a whole population, to death. How arrogant and self-important can a person possibly be?
I am lucky
Hi . According to my friends and family I am lucky. I win quite a lot of raffles. I have won on my premium bonds quite a bit . For example I have won the school Christmas Hamper loads of times, which is full of great goodies and vouchers. I went to my a work do with my husband and I won 3 prizes . I also believe in what goes around comes around in Karma. I have over the years had many a person pay for my train fair at the station because I lost my wallet, but saying that I have as also helped people out when there stuck and I don,t know them because of people helped me out. Sometimes you can just find yourself stuck that's life and I believe the majority of people are okay. To be honest I don,t like to think any other way as it would just stress me out and then I would be miserable.
Karma
I also believe in what goes around comes around in Karma. I don,t like to think any other way as it would just stress me out and then I would be miserable.
I agree. I don't think Karma is anything to do with some magical afterlife; I think if you have a nasty attitude I think it makes you bitter and unhappy, and if you think nicely about others it makes you happier. That's karma as I see it.
Booze talk eh?
you can't beat it, especially after the 3rd beer, which I will be having in a couple of hours (day off tomorrow).
There are many spiritual feelings. Some people feel warm when they go into a house. I walked into my office and new it was for me (not been easy though).
I think we probably all agree that some people are more fortunate than others and it has nothing to do with Accountancy or any other ancy.
ancy
Ive been there its in france...nice town with a river through it and handy for the alps
Accountants Luck
When I joined this debate last Friday and mentioned my faith I little realised it would start such a lively debate. Thanks to all who joined in anyway as it has given me the basis of my sermon for the Parish Eucharist next Sunday. Lucky me, lucky congregation perhaps. Hopefully it will raise an interesting debate from within the congregation. God Bless.
i read in the paper yesterday that Religion is in the top 3
when it comes to people altering WIKIPEDIA entries , given the above i am not surprised
Wikipedia
when it comes to people altering WIKIPEDIA entries , given the above i am not surprised
Yeah, Israel is the top one. There is always a massive propaganda effort by the Zionists and that is part of it.
I do not see how religion can help anyone other than a priest
I wrote:
I am among millions of people worldwide who derive great strength from their spiritual beliefs which enables many of us to do our best to serve others
You wrote:
How sad that you require a religion in order to help other people. Most people I know seem to manage to do good of their own accord. As far as I know, this is a normal human trait.
So a better word instead of "enabled" would have been "helped". I do not require a religion at all - I have a direct connection to God, the Church is a means of strengthening this connection. I do my best to do good of my own accord, and my spiritual beliefs assist this - like a turbocharger. I find it sad that many people restrict their potential because they have no spiritual dimension.
How does your religion help you to be a good person and what potential is restricted by having no "spiritual dimension" (by which I assume you mean believing in gods and venerating priests)?
You wrote:
Reread it. Definitely doesn't answer the question. Suggest you try again, I wouldn't recommend praying, unless you have any convincing evidence that it does anything other than make the prayer feel they have done something useful.
The question - How?
I feel very lucky (or blessed) that I have a personal relationship with God. - original post
You appear to be confusing cause and effect. If good luck led you to going to your temple and having a personal relationship with a god, then this relationship didn't cause the luck, the luck caused the relationship.
[quote=hockleyaccountant]"Churchgoing can lead to very good luck indeed" if it strengthens your connection to God because in my personal opinion it will lead to more confidence and conviction in your purpose in life.[quote] How could this possibly be true?
[quote=hockleyaccountant]I do not have time to go into this further - I am an accountant, not a theologist or philosopher![quote] I don't think anything more than basic reasoning skills are required, although priests might say otherwise, to make their business sound more complicated and to discourage people from arguing with them.
I do not see how religion can help anyone other than a priest (2
[quote=hockleyaccountant]btw, if you want convincing evidence prayer works, I suggest following these links as above[quote]
I looked at the first one. It was a story about someone who prayed that something would happen, and it happened. There seems to be some implication that praying for the thing caused it to happen. This appears to fail the most basic scientific test of proof, as there is no way of knowing whether the thing would have happened if the person had not prayed. I really cannot see how anyone could consider this to be convincing evidence. George Carlin did a great sketch about religion and he covered the praying thing. I highly recommend it. You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjVLJKR6g7U
Incidentally, I find it amazing that people believe that their gods will accede to their requests for special treatment like ensuring they arrive at a dinner in time (the first example on the first page you linked to), but then go and starve a little child, or a whole population, to death. How arrogant and self-important can a person possibly be?
Isn't Vatican City
one of the (if not THE) richest cities in the world. Some temples and mosques are quite richly clad. Does religion need these riches? Then, of course, you have religious wars. What's that all about?
I have strong beliefs in common sense. Now that could have come from RI in school, but when someone tells me that you can walk on water etc. (other than Dynamo) then I start losing interest.
However, as long as it doesn't affect me, whatever turns you on.
I'm not a religious person
Being religious doesn't make you better than anyone else, or more 'righteous' than anyone else. I have met a good few religious hypocrites in my time who are, quite frankly, extremely bigoted and very unpleasant people. They somehow use religion to justify their callous attitude and actions.
Likewise, not being religious doesn't make you a bad person, or less 'righteous' than anyone else. It's how you live your life, and how you treat others, that determines whether you are 'good' or 'bad'.
The danger is when 'religion' is used for the wrong reasons, ie. as John said, to start wars, to act selfishly ie. do as I say, not as I do, and to discriminate against others that may not hold the same beliefs. How can that be justified?
Right reasons for using religion?
Reading this a bit more carefully, Shirley, makes me wonder, what would be the right reasons for using religion? The danger is when 'religion' is used for the wrong reasons
Agree with John and Shirley
Absolutely agree with John and Shirley except that I also object to religion when it affects others, especially the vulnerable and impressionable, such as children.
They say that morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told, and that religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.
@chatman
The right reason? I can only think of one .... and that is to give hope when there is no hope.
Uses of Religion
The right reason? I can only think of one .... and that is to give hope where there is no hope.
Yes, I suppose so, but hope of what? Sam Harris addressed that idea. He said "It is time we learnt to address our emotional needs without embracing the preposterous"
I feel that religion creates more needs than it fulfils.