Another interesting conversation happened while Z was here, was regarding chance, luck and opportunities in life. As we agree on Louis Pasteur saying that: "Luck favors the prepared mind", we pondered on successes of few mediocres of our medical school (like me) and failures of some mind boggling intelligent students. We dissect rather tried to dissect the definition of success etc. Don't be wrong, Z is as agnostic or atheist as I am but from nowhere he asked me:
"Did you ever read or pondered on Surah feel (chapter on elephants) from Quran?"
"Not really". I replied with slightly sarcastic smile on my face (saying seems you are now getting religious as getting old?)
"Suraf feel actually teaches us that man propose God dispose. A bigger effect occurs from simplest things in life like making wrong parking turn, calling a wrong number and so forth. Life is strange in a way that help arrive from not expected, chance appears and opportunity bump from nowhere, best made plan go down to gutter - and at the end human wonder - seriously? One simple act of life (call it a cause or ababeel) changes everything in life (call it an effect or makool). There is a reason, one name of divine is musab-babul-asbaab (means creator of causes). Criteria of success or failure is far from the understanding of humans themselves. Work honestly, hope for the best and just enjoy the ride".
9 comments:
As far as I understand, "cause and effect" is merely the simplified model our brain uses to understand the reality around us. This thinking pattern discounts the role of inherent randomness/luck which in my opinion plays a much larger role than we care to acknowledge.
For example, smoking does increase the probability of getting lung cancer but strictly speaking it's not a cause of it. Because (please correct me if I'm wrong) there are cancer patients who never smoked or even had exposure to second-hand smoke. On the other hand there are few lucky ones who -- despite being a (heavy?) smoker -- lived a long, hearty life.
So what I want to say is that "effect <-- causes + Luck," and this Luck is just a fact of life. One can rationalize it as "will of God" or "punishment for past life conducts" or "karma" or "something else" but ultimately it is still there, much to the chagrin of our rational, meaning-seeking brain! :-)
Amendment:
... probability of getting lung cancer but strictly speaking it's not a cause of it.
should be read as
... probability of getting lung cancer but strictly speaking it is not determined just by the fact of being smoker/non-smoker.
... also I wanted to add that luck "exists" only when it is not in our favor (or maybe when we have to explain the success of our enemies :P).
There is one nice comics, which is, I guess relevant to the topic:
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate
Mysterious ways the Unreckoned forces work, our simple minds cant grasp the Master Creator. Finite can never "grasp", Divine Infinity. The equation is simple. 1+0= 1. We all are 0. My humble opinion. Anyone can disagree. Regards
I understand the "luck" part having experienced many things myself in my long and eventful life. But what was amazing for me is the truth being extracted from Sura feel and according to you Dr. Z is agnostic/atheistic type. Unless you have done a thorough study of Wur'anic ayaat with going deeper than just ordinary tafseer writers you cant make such claims We however all remain human whether we believe in the Creator or not.
Anony::
I shared your comic link with my kids!!! - I loved it.
I had a long arguments many times with many friends about: "Why Bad things happen to good people"? :) - And it never ends.... And believe it or not - that cancer analogy come into play alllll the time.
Dopamine: Thank you for still be around. You never answered my question. Why Dopamine and not Dobutamine? :)
Uncle: I agree with you. Your comment reminded me another long forgotten episode of my life - I am going to past with title "Ankaboot"
Sir dopamine, dobutamine ka bhi murshad hy.. iss liay... :)
Right quote is, fortune favors the prepared mind
Thanks for your kind comments, mystic-soul! :-)
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