Atheism and "luck"

yes, karma is pretty religious. it's pretty much the universally accepted rule in nearly every religion. but just because religion accepts the idea, doesn't mean it's something an atheist can't believe. i view religion came from basic "good ideas" that were formalized into laws and customs. not eating shellfish is a good idea if you live in the desert. not eating pork is a good idea if you don't cook it properly.

one of my very basic rules of life is "avoid bad people". it's simple - bad people are the primary source of bad shit. avoiding bad people keeps you away from their bad shit. it's like the old saying, it you lie with dogs you're gonna get fleas. similarly, if you surround yourself with good people, you'll reap the rewards of their goodness. and of course, good people tend to want to be around other good people so the best way to be around good people is to be good yourself.

as social animals, we communicate a lot of information in deeply subtle ways -- ways we don't even recognize. so good people sticking with other good people tends to be a natural order as is bad people finding other bad people to hang out with.

 

Gee, can I be your friend? I'm tired of being "bad people".

 

Chicken or the egg - like a lot of our debates. It most certainly is embedded in and promoted by religion, but I'm not convinced its genesis is religious in a deist fashion. It's more of a pure philosphical observance, an outspring or corollary of the Golden Rule.

Sure you can - it's in the laws of physics. If you eminate an energy (or if you wanna be all practical - if you do something that generates negative emotional/physical energy) it will be returned to you. Every action generates an equal but opposite reaction. In that way, I think karma is one of the more scientifically sound "beliefs" around. You really can test it empirically - walk into a room full of acquaintances in two opposite moods and act accordingly.

 

So your saying Gods been helping me win Yatzee tournaments for years?

I can understand a deeply religious person wanting to quantify their good fortune, seeing it as good Karma for being well behaved or not as the case may be. But i doubt there's a higher power dishing out community chest cards as it were.

I do agree that sometimes we put ourselves in better positions to be more fortunate thru dedication and hard work, like players on a football team.
Sometimes shit happens, there are alot of variables out there.

 

I love the way you put that, and I'd believe it except for one thing: we hang out on this board. That right there should put that theory to rest. :newsmile23:

 

fax me your resume.

 

That makes sense. Luck--good luck or bad luck--is something I think of as random (at least as far as we're able to know).

I've talked about natural energies here before, & expressed the belief that even though we don't have a clear understanding of them, we can still affect & direct them to some degree. And I think we all do this to some degree, whether we realize it or not. While some might call that "making your own luck," I think of it more in terms of reducing randomness.

For one thing, the subconscious mind is a very powerful thing. Like attracts like in this realm. If your thoughts & attitudes are predominantly bitter, you will attract other bitter people & bitter experiences. You get what you expect, in other words, because your subconscious mind is set up for that, & because those energies accumulate. Same principle applies to the positive direction.

The environment you immerse yourself in--especially including the people you associate with--has a more profound effect on your personal experiences than most people think about. Just think about that person--everybody knows at least 1--who is what I call an "energy vampire." Just being around that person, not even interacting with them, seems to suck the life right out of you. They make you tired & put you in a morose frame of mind unless you actively counter that energy. By the same token, some people just put out good vibes that energize people around them

Random shit does happen. But we can still affect what sort of energy we typically attract with some conscious effort. And I don't think your particular religious beliefs affect this as much as the mind-set you have. With or without a belief in any sort of god or higher power, the focus of your own mind is what you draw to yourself--positive, negative, or neutral.