We explain what luck is, the origin of its name and its relationship with chance. Also, how it is linked to the religious or the divine.
What is luck?
We all know in one way or another what luck is, although we don't always know how to define it. Sometimes we talk about luck to refer to chance, other times to destiny and sometimes to the idea that the universe conspires positively or negatively with respect to us. But what really is luck?
Let's start by explaining that The word luck comes from the Latin word sortiswhich were dice or small bones used to distribute plots of land (which is also where the lottery comes from) with which they rewarded the soldiers who completed their service in Ancient Rome. These plots were of the same size, but not of the same quality, so, depending on the soldier's luck, he could get fertile land or scree.
So, from the beginning, Luck is a name we give to chance, to circumstances beyond our control. and they do not depend at all on our preparation or our effort. Thus, at the same time, we have decided to differentiate between two types of luck: good luck, when chance brings us something favorable, and bad luck, when the opposite happens.
The idea of chance has not always been the same throughout history. For example In ancient Roman times chance was attributed to the goddess Fortuneand it was already represented with the typical wheel, emblem of what today may be above, and tomorrow below.
For the Romans, depending on the specific issue that luck decided, it instead became a decision (or simply a consequence of the good favors) of other gods and deities: Mars, for example, ruled the destinies of war.
Instead, in monotheistic traditions Like Judaism (and later, Christianity), God's will was the source of everything that happens in the world. His was the decision of everything that is left to chance, which basically means that luck does not exist but everything is the will of Godwho operates, according to this view, through paths incomprehensible to human beings.
As will be seen, luck has always been linked to the religious or the divinethat is, with forces that we cannot glimpse, much less control. Hence, a superstitious aspect also emerged linked to the possibility of promoting luck, that is, of calling good luck and warding off bad luck, through rituals, amulets or personal codes.
Many of these talismans and emblems survive even today: the four-leaf clover and the horse's horseshoe are symbols of good luck, the possession of which was supposed to tilt luck in favor; The same thing happens with the number 7, or with prime numbers. While the number 13, passing under a ladder, breaking a mirror or having a black cat cross our path, are capable of bringing us bad luck.
Belief in luck, in any case, is an intimate matter that has nothing to do with logic, and that many interpret as a form of faith or mystical belief that still survives in our secular and modern societies. Others, however, prefer to see luck as a mere matter of probabilities and statistics, operating in a system so large and complicated that it is impossible to predict on a small scale.
Continue with: Intuition
References
- “Luck” on Wikipedia.
- “Luck” in the language dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “What is luck?” (video) in Question Mark.
- “Why do we believe in luck?” on BBC World.
