The Age-Old Mystery

What is Luck?

A "lucky" four-leaf clover. Image Credit: Phyzome, Wikipedia.org.

What is luck? Luck is usually considered to be "good fortune"—something good happening to you. For instance, luck could include persistent good health, winning at the lottery or buying a piece of land that happens to have a gold deposit. It implies something outside of the person's control. Of course, the person's good health could be controlled partly by certain lifestyle choices. Someone eventually wins the lottery; it has to be someone and that someone could be you. And a person might buy a piece of land for any one of a number of reasons—location, beauty, etc.—but the resources on that plot of land don't magically change depending on who buys the land.

What does it mean when someone says, "Best of luck to you?" It is a generous wish that someone bestows in the hope that someone will be successful in their ventures. When someone says, "luck be a lady tonight," they're talking about the hope that fortune will smile on them—that luck, which could be good or bad, decide to be good (a lady) instead of bad (a malicious and spiteful woman).

Beginner's Luck

Beginner's luck is when someone shows seemingly great skill the first time they attempt something. The implication is that they could not gain such skill without practice. A beginning golfer hits a hole-in-one the first time up to the tee. A beginning basketball player sinks a shot from three-point territory—all net—on their first attempt. Frequently, this beginner's luck quickly wears off after the person becomes acclimated to the game and learns what is supposed to be impossible.

One of my brothers experienced something similar to beginner's luck with the guitar. A friend played a short melody to demonstrate a technique and my brother asked if he could try. When he duplicated the same melody, note-for-note, the friend asked how long he had been playing. My brother replied that this had been the first time he had picked up a guitar. But his beginner's luck did not disappear. Could this, instead, have been a peculiar kind of skill?

Bad Luck

Bad luck is the opposite of good luck or good fortune. Examples could include, getting hit by a meteorite, never winning at the horse races or marrying multiple times with each one ending in divorce.

For every mention of the word "luck," there is the connotation that some force guided events toward the form of luck a person received. This also suggests that the person will receive only this kind of luck (good or bad) until their luck changes.

A great deal of superstition has been generated by this concept. People will do many strange things to avoid bad luck or to recapture good luck once lost. Things like avoiding a black cat and never walking underneath a ladder. Some people, when they spill salt, will throw some over their shoulder to recapture the luck lost by the spill.

Real Effect or Random Chance

Horse race at Churchill Downs, 2008:0418. Image Credit: Jarrett Campbell, Cary, NC, USA.

Some considerations of luck and similar superstitions come from the tendency to associate sequential events. This is called the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" (Latin for "after this, therefore because of this") fallacy or "post hoc fallacy." A person might notice that every time they go on a picnic, it rains. If this happens enough, they consider that the act of going on a picnic causes the rain. Or they may consider themselves unlucky in that they cannot enjoy themselves with a picnic because the forces of "luck" or the "gods" don't like them.

Not every sequence of events is directly connected. Naturally, some are. We would not have science without the study of such coincidences. For instance, an explosion coincides with every instance of putting a sample of elemental sodium in a container of water. This is a chemical reaction which occurs as a direct cause-and-effect result of the combining of the two substances.

On the other hand, some individuals have won the lottery multiple times. And a rare few have won the lottery upon intending to win it, even though they rarely play.

And then we have the subject of miracles. Was Jesus lucky when he walked on the Sea of Galilee? Did he happen to find all of those water molecules which happened to be vibrating upward when he stepped?

Comparative Religion

The Buddha is said to have warned against selling luck, "such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams... bringing good or bad luck... invoking the goodness of luck... picking the lucky site for a building." In Thailand, luck charms blessed by Buddhist monks are sold to bring their wearer good luck. Perhaps in selling such good luck charms they forgot the lessons of their founder.

In fact, Gautama Siddhartha Buddha is said to have taught that "all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate." Moral causality (karma) remains a key idea in Buddhism. This is very similar to the Christian notion of reaping what you sow, or living by the sword leading to dying by the sword.

Beyond Luck

What happens to us is not an accidental force called "luck." We are responsible for what happens to us. Accepting responsibility (not blame) is part of spiritual awakening.

When the ancient nation of Israel followed the laws of God, it prospered. If a spot of sin were to be found within their borders, it needed to be eradicated or all would suffer. This had nothing to do with fictional "luck." This was the will of God. Doing the spiritually right thing elicits prosperity. And yet, when being good seems to bring misfortune, that's only the paying of old debts. That's karma. But karma is never bad—or good for that matter. Karma is only an opportunity to awaken. And that's far better than any fantasy called "luck."

References:
"Luck," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck, retrieved 2012:0128