Luck: Encyclopedia - Luck

Luck

This article is about good and bad fortune. There is also: Luck, Volhynia, a town in Ukraine, and Luck, Wisconsin, a village in the USA.

Luck may be analysed from three viewpoints: rational, social, and supernatural.

Luck - Rational viewpoint

As related to the occurrences of actual events considered to be of low probability in a mathematical or statistical sense. A rationalist approach would lead to the conclusion that such matters as whether or not someone bore a victim ill will would have no bearing upon (for example) that person being hit by a loose brick falling from a decrepit building. It was only due to a remote statistical probability that a person happened to be walking past when a brick fell. In a case like this, both rationalists and spiritualists would likely say that the victim was unlucky. In an example of good luck, a person winning a lottery would generally be considered lucky, although a rationalist might point out that there was bound to be a winner sooner or later, and there was actually nothing lucky about someone winning - it was merely a probabilistic event. It is doubtful that the winner would agree with that analysis, however.

An alternative rationalist approach to luck is to contrast it with control. Luck is what happens that is beyond your control. One advantage with this view is that it incorporates phenomena that obviously bear on luck, your place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved, or where the uncertainty is irrelevant, and where a probabilistic understandig of luck therefore is out of place. Within this framework one can differentiate between three different types of luck: 1) Constitutional luck, that is, luck with factors you cannot control because they cannot be changed. Place of birth and genetic constitusion are typical examples. 2) Circumstantial luck, that is, luck with factors you cannot control because they are brought on you. Accidents and epidemics are typical examples. 3) Consequential luck, that is, luck with factors you cannot control because they are a capricious result of your actions. A typical example would be whether or not you hit someone if your car crashes through a thick hedge. Whether or not there is someone behind the hedge will determine what you have in fact done, although it is completely beyond your control. It is a matter of luck.

Luck - Social viewpoint

As a social phenomenon, there is much truth in the sayings "you reap what you sow" Galatians 6:7 and "what goes around, comes around" (see karma). On the one hand, those who are kind and generous to others are usually perceived as open and accepting, and so more likely to be freely offered assistance from others. They are also more likely to be able to ask for and receive help from others in time of need. On the other hand, those who are asocial or anti-social are less likely ask for assistance, or to be offered assistance by others. The open, generous and cheerful person is more likely to be classified by others as lucky, while the curmudgeon is more likely to be considered by others or to consider him/her self unlucky.

Luck - Spiritual viewpoint

There is also sometimes considered to be a spiritual, metphysical, or supernatural bias towards experiencing events of good or ill fortune. In this sense some believe that one's own or another's good or bad luck can be influenced through spiritual means or by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain (from a rational viewpoint non-relevant) situations. Prayer is a religious practice in which this belief is particularly strong, although many cultures worldwide place a strong emphasis on a person's ability to influence their luckiness by ritualistic means. Prayer and rituals that pre-date or are independent of Judeo-Christian religions are considered traditional or folk relgions, and are associated with luck in the sense of superstition. Modern religions believe in the will of a supreme being rather than luck as influencing events. However, most modern relgions in their early development accomodated traditional folk practices. Many of these practices and icons are now thought of as fully Judeo-Christian, and Judeo-Christians wish each other good luck as often as they say "God bless you".

In their original forms, the folk religions view mind, spirit and body as one. They often involve proper respect for spirits, believed to inhabit a location prior to human occupation. In some cultures, if one builds a house on a property it is respectful to provide a small spirit house for their habitation. In other cultures, a building may be interrupted by a passageway to allow the flow of spiritual energy - the location being determined by an expert in such matters. In such cultures, ignoring such matters is believed to lead to misfortune - bad luck. In this context, there is also the concept of "purpose" to events ascribed to luck, good or bad.

The spiritual-physical healing practices of Native American, African, Celtic and European folklore also include ways to influence luck or good fortune.

(Edited January 8, 2006 by Dr. E. Douglas Pratt, Atlanta, Georgia, ppr-edp@juno.com)

Luck - Effects of viewpoint and beliefs

The belief in luck as a supernatural phenomenon is generally regarded by rationalists as a form of magical thinking. However, there is evidence that people who believe themselves to have good luck are more able to take advantage of fortunate chance events in their lives, and to compensate for unfortunate chance events in their lives, than people who believe that they have bad luck. This appears to be the result of positive thinking altering their responses to these events. A belief in luck can also indicate a belief in an external locus of control for events in their life, and so escape from personal responsibility.

Some philosophers argue that we each "create our own reality", literally and not metaphorically, and in that context what appears to be good luck can be interpreted as having beliefs that encourage or create what are putatively good outcomes.

Luck - Risky lifestyles

Often those who ascribe their travails to "bad luck" will be found upon close examination to be living risky lifestyles. For example: a drunk driver may ascribe their arrest to the bad luck of being observed by a patrolman, or the bad luck of being involved in a traffic accident (perhaps not even the victim's fault), as a way of avoiding personal responsibility for their actions.

Luck - Positive outlook

On the other hand, people who consider themselves "lucky" in having good health may be actually reaping the benefits of a cheerful outlook and satisfying social relationships, both of which are well known statistically to be protective against many stress-related diseases.

Luck - Effects

If "good" and "bad" events occur at random to everyone, believers in good luck will experience a net gain in their fortunes, and vice versa for believers in bad luck. This is clearly likely to be self-reinforcing. Thus, although untrue, a belief in good luck may actually be an adaptive meme.

The gambler's fallacy and inverse gambler's fallacy are both related to belief in luck.

Luck - Numerology

Most cultures consider some numbers to be lucky or unlucky. This is found to be particularly strong in Asian cultures, where the obtaining of "lucky" telephone numbers, automobile license plate numbers, and household addresses are actively sought, sometimes at great monetary expense.

Luck - Sayings

Popular sayings and quotations related to luck:

• "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca, Roman Dramatist
• "You make your own luck" -
• "When it rains, it pours" - this is an expression of the mathematical property of statistically independent events that bunch together.
• "Bad things happen in threes" - see above
• "Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey
• When something happens by "sheer dumb luck", it is considered to have happened unintentionally and without planning.
• "Luck doesn't exist." There are more variations on this phrase than can be listed here, but not enough to make believers care.
• "Luck be a lady tonight" -- song from the musical "Guys and Dolls"
• A famous Samuel Goldwyn quote sums up the rationalist view: "The harder I work, the luckier I get". Or an equally famous Gary Player quote "The harder I practice, the luckier I get".
• Knocking on wood, spoken expression used as a charm to bring good luck. In medieval times, it was believed that there were spirits living in the trees. You would "knock on wood" for the spirits to protect you from bad luck.
• "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck" - Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• "Luck can only get you so far" by Hermione, referring to a "luck potion Felix Felicis" in Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
• "Luck of the Irish"
• "getting lucky" - euphemism for (a man) having sex (implied to be statistically improbable)

Luck - Items or events

Several items or happenings are considered lucky or unlucky.

Luck - Lucky

• Finding a penny on heads
• Horseshoes
• Four-leaf clovers
• Rabbit's feet
• Ladybugs
• Elephant with the trunk pointing up
• The number seven.
• knocking on wood
• saying break a leg to part of a stage cast/crew member before their show

Luck - Unlucky

• Friday the 13th.
• The number 13 (Many buildings skipped 13 when numbering their floors for this reason)
• Black cat crossing your path
• Stepping on a crack (it breaks the back of the stepper's mother)
• Breaking a mirror (seven years bad luck)
• Spilling over salt (but you can get rid of the bad luck by throwing the salt over your left shoulder, supposedly the devil sits there. It is also said to be unlucky if you throw salt over your right shoulder, since supposedly an angel sits there).
• Putting a hat on a bed
• Opening an umbrella indoors
• Seeing three butterflies at the same time
• Killing a ladybug
• Walking underneath a ladder (when being hanged, the condemned man would often be made to pass underneath a ladder before climbing it and onto the gallows)
• saying "good luck"

Luck - Luck in fiction

• Gladstone Gander, a fictional cartoon character, is dependent solely upon his good luck.
• Joe Btfsplk, a character in the Li'l Abner (Little Abner) comic strip by the cartoonist Al Capp is not only unlucky, he is shunned by the other characters as they suspect (with good reason) that this bad luck may be infectious.
• In Larry Niven's novel Ringworld, the character Teela Brown was the incredibly lucky result of a centuries-long breeding program initiated by the alien Pierson's Puppeteers directed to just such an outcome. The consequence of her state was that she'd led such a charmed and worry-free life that she was emotionally immature and unprepared for "harsh reality."
• In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, luck is an anthropomorphic personification known as the Lady, who, while not a goddess, is powerful enough to be the rival of the god Fate.
• Eugene Horowitz from Hey Arnold is known for the bad luck he constantly has, though his optimism always makes his personality win over it.
• Felix Felicis, a potion in the Harry Potter books, gives its drinker good luck.
• Furrball the cat in Tiny Toon Adventures is a perpetually unfortunate feline, forever suffering mishaps, though frequently it's his own actions (i.e. overwhelming greed) that get him into trouble (not unlike mentor Sylvester the cat).
• In the Red Dwarf episode Quarantine a 'luck virus' existed.
• Fortune (or "Lady Luck"), a character in the video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, is implied to have extraordinarily good luck which apparently causes bullets to swerve away from her.

Luck - Song Lyrics

• "Is it Luck" by Primus

See also

• Curse
• Destiny
• Evil eye
• Fate
• Folk religion
• Irrationality
• Magic (paranormal)
• Probability
• Statistics
• Superstition

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Luck", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki