"Just my good luck,” a close friend told me jubilantly while I was getting ready to go out for a walk. Even without waiting for my response. “I’ve just won the first prize in a lottery.” I simply congratulated him. Although I have never won a big lottery prize in my life, there are some people out there who win lottery prizes. Does it mean that they are lucky and I am unlucky? How do you decide whether someone is lucky or unlucky? As far as I know, there is no way of knowing whether you are lucky or unlucky. This is simply because good luck happens by chance. Similarly, bad luck also happens by chance. We simply do not know why such things happen. They remain eternal mysteries.
Roberston Davies, a Canadian novelist, says what we call luck is the inner man externalised. We make things happen to us. If you do not buy lottery tickets, you will never win a lottery prize. Similarly, if you walk on the highway listening to music or talking to someone on the mobile phone, you will be knocked down by a passing vehicle. Thus, it happens that luck isnothing but the inner man externalised.
According to the celebrated Chinese philosopher Confucius, the superior man lives quietly and calmly waiting for the will of Heaven. He does not do what is risky but looks out for turns of luck. St. Catherine of Siena tells us something different. She says, “To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his right and left hand. He uses both.” Samuel Butler argued in a different way by saying, “People are lucky and unlucky, not according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect.” Emerson sounding a cautious note said, “Shallow men believe in luck and believe in circumstances. It was somebody’s name or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
Cause and effect
The law of cause and effect, known in Buddhism as kamma, is scientifically true. We find that science itself has to admit the possibility of causes operating on a level other than that known to us through our ordinary consciousness. The eminent physicist Max Planck says, “We must distinguish between the validity of the cause principle and the practicability of its application.” We must admit that there are causes beyond our comprehension, but they must be causes obeying a law inherent in themselves. We are not to suppose a supernatural origin of phenomena outside the sphere of causality, but this is precisely what happens in the world.”
Most of us still believe in good and bad luck. In order to avoid bad luck we consult astrologers and take precautions. Some people wear charmed talismans. Others invoke supernatural powers. As Dr Natalie Shaines, a psychiatrist, observes, “It is easy to settle for that as a general complaint and not bother to look further.”
We fail to understand that luck is largely the result of taking appropriate action. When we remain passive, we do not take sufficient charge of our affairs and easily become victims of all kinds of bad luck. Sometimes, we take risks unwittingly. For instance, while knowing that a particular dry cleaner is a careless man you give your clothes to him for dry cleaning. When he returns the dry-cleaned slacks you say, “My bad luck, he’s ruined my slacks.” But your mother or father who has many years of life experience would say, “It always happens. You allowed it to happen. It’s not your bad luck.”
Bad luck
In society we permit ourselves to accept such ‘bad luck’ when we are surrounded by thugs, ransom takers, drug addicts and thieves. Society has helped to create them. If we help law enforcement authorities to nab them, as it is happening today, society will be rid of such characters. If you place the blame on others for all social ills, it leads us away from looking within and facing up to our own part in what is going on.
If you believe in luck, it can promote passivity. Some children carry their childhood grievances with them and feel overwhelmed by bad luck because everything happened due to their parents’ fault. Unless they make an attempt to go ahead, they will never succeed in their lives.
Humans are not perfect animals. They have their own brand of weaknesses. When once you recognise your own role in creating less than perfect situations you should be able to make changes.That is how you change your ‘bad luck.’ Instead of believing in fate, destiny, kismet, or luck, you should try to use the available resources, abilities and even disabilities to change your situation in life. What you do will determine your luck. As William Shakespeare said, “The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves.”
Einstein
Albert Einstein failed the entrance examination for the EidgenossischeTechnischeHochschule (ETH), in Switzerland, the first time he applied. It is possible that he just did not study enough for the examination or was not good at taking that kind of examination.Either scenario would have had no bearing on whether he had a learning disability. In fact, Einstein was dyslexic.Did his alleged learning disability prevent him from conducting amazing research? Absolutely not. It is true that Einstein always had some difficulty in finding words. However, Einstein won the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1921 for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
As Einstein did, the more you act to change your luck, the more you take charge, the more secure you feel. The minute a person does something positive, he feels good, he feels less angry, because mastery and activity are conditions of a healthy life. When I failed my law finals twice I saw a red flag, a sign that I should make changes. When you respect frustrating failures again and again, the accumulation of bad results often makes you conclude that you have a bad luck.
Unfortunately, some people fail to see a pattern of things going wrong. They should pause and ask, “What is my role in life?” What can I do to change this bad situation? In other words, you have to be self-critical.
One aspect of self-criticism involves the ability to evaluate and criticise your personal relationships, examination failures, or missed opportunities in getting a job. All these things are not your bad luck, they are simply phases in your life.
When things do not happen the way you want, you naturally get frustrated. However, on such occasions you should avoid daydreaming or turning to alcohol or drugs. These are actions that deflect good luck. Making changes in your activities will make you feel better. When you improve yourself in small ways, life will bring bigger surprises. You may call it luck!