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85-577: [REDACTED] Look up good fortune in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Good Fortune may refer to: Good Fortune (film) , a film by Aziz Ansari "Good Fortune" (song) , a song by PJ Harvey Good Fortune (Brotherhood of Man album) Good Fortune (78 Saab album) See also [ edit ] Good fortune , the concept of luck Lakshmi Vijayam (disambiguation) Mazal Tov , A phrase which translates to good luck. Topics referred to by

170-426: A lacquered , two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. The earliest examples of liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. Along with divination for Da Liu Ren the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi (Pole star) through the nine palaces. The markings on a liuren/shi and the first magnetic compasses are virtually identical. The magnetic compass

255-574: A "falling" (as it were of dice ), via Old French cheance from Late Latin cadentia "falling". Fortuna , the Roman goddess of fate or luck, was popular as an allegory in medieval times, and even though it was not strictly reconcilable with Christian theology, it became popular in learned circles of the High Middle Ages to portray her as a servant of God in distributing success or failure in a characteristically "fickle" or unpredictable way, thus introducing

340-658: A "lucky ball" performed better than those who were not. Some people intentionally put themselves in situations that increase the chances of a serendipitous encounter, such as socializing with people who work in different fields. The philosopher Nicholas Rescher has proposed that the luck of someone's result in a situation of uncertainty is measured by the difference between this party's yield and expectation: λ = Y - E. Thus skill enhances expectation and reduces luck. The extent to which different games will depend on luck , rather than skill or effort, varies considerably. For example, chess does not involve any random factors (beyond

425-650: A cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate. The idea of moral causality, karma ( Pali : kamma), is central in Buddhism. In the Sutta Nipata , the Buddha is recorded as having said the following about selling luck: Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams ... bringing good or bad luck ... invoking

510-442: A compass) Others Traditional feng shui was a system designed to aid rural villages from the effects of weather and natural disaster. As a set of consistent rules, feng shui can facilitate collective consensus on development without the need of centralized leadership. Understanding that one's actions could damage the feng shui and fortunes of the entire village, individuals were incentivized to know these rules and carefully manage

595-417: A deterministic phenomenon that affects the future, on one hand, and on the other, belief in personal luckiness as an appraisal of how fortunately or otherwise chance events in the past might have turned out. They developed and validated an internationally applicable scale to measure, respectively, belief in luck and personal luckiness constructs. They found no correlation between the constructs and no evidence of

680-667: A distinction between positive and negative aspects of each, suggesting they represent two discrete and unidimensional constructs. Belief in luck and personal luckiness were also found to correlate differently with personality and psychological variables, such as the Big Five and affect. Feng shui Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Feng shui ( / ˈ f ʌ ŋ ˌ ʃ uː i / or / ˌ f ʌ ŋ ˈ ʃ w eɪ / ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy ,

765-411: A four-dimensional model: belief in being personally lucky; belief in being personally unlucky; general belief in luck; and rejection of belief in luck. Thompson and Prendergast (2013) clarified the concepts of belief in luck and belief in personal luckiness. They addressed the logical problem that nobody who disbelieves in luck could consider themselves lucky by differentiating between belief in luck as

850-887: A given culture or set of related cultures, and sometimes contradictory. For example, lucky symbols include the number 7 in Christian-influenced cultures and the number 8 in Chinese-influenced cultures. Unlucky symbols and events include entering and leaving a house by different doors or breaking a mirror in Greek culture, throwing rocks into a whirlwind in Navajo culture, and ravens in Western culture. Some of these associations may derive from related facts or desires. For example, in Western culture opening an umbrella indoors might be considered unlucky partly because it could poke someone in

935-518: A large plaza. It stands on a north–south axis with another building that apparently housed communal activities. Regional communities may have used the complex. A grave at Puyang (around 4000 BC) that contains mosaics— a Chinese star map of the Dragon and Tiger asterisms and Beidou ( the Big Dipper, Ladle or Bushel )— is oriented along a north–south axis. The presence of both round and square shapes in

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1020-498: A luck-skill continuum, the NBA had the most skill-dependant result while that of the NHL was most luck-dependant. A defining feature of a lottery is that winners are selected purely by chance. Marketing and other discussions regarding lotteries often mention luck but tend to underplay the actual prospects of winning, which are usually millions to one against. "Leaving it to chance" is sometimes

1105-504: A lucky charm or offering sacrifices or prayers to a deity. Saying someone is "born lucky" may hold different meanings, depending on the interpretation: it could simply mean that they have been born into a good family or circumstance; or that they habitually experience improbably positive events, due to some inherent property, or due to the lifelong favor of a god or goddess in a monotheistic or polytheistic religion. Many superstitions are related to luck, though these are often specific to

1190-456: A multi-component solution, as did Prendergast and Thompson (2008). André (2006) proposed a model of luck-related perceptions that includes separate positive and negative beliefs. She found the positive and negative components of personal luck beliefs correlate highly, suggesting they are conceptually very close or in fact the same. Maltby et al. (2008) proposed a six-dimensional model of beliefs around luck, but empirical analyses supported only

1275-442: A paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects, such as making claims about the functioning of the world that are not amenable to testing with the scientific method . The Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest known evidence for the use of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass , feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and

1360-645: A place with ideal qi . It also considers the time of important events such as the birth of the resident and the building of the structure. The Compass branch is a collection of more recent feng shui techniques based on the Eight Directions, each of which is said to have unique qi. It uses the Luopan , a disc marked with formulas in concentric rings around a magnetic compass. The Compass Branch includes techniques such as Flying Star and Eight Mansions . More recent forms of feng shui simplify principles that come from

1445-515: A political institution and instead became an increasingly private affair. Many feng shui experts and diviners sold their services to the public market, allowing feng shui to quickly grow in popularity. During the Late Qing dynasty , feng shui became immensely popular. Widespread destitution and increasing government despotism led to feng shui becoming more widely practiced in rural areas. The Qing dynasty attempted to crack down on heterodoxy following

1530-726: A resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good." Researchers have suggested that good luck and good mood often co-occur (Duong & Ohtsuka, 2000) and that people who believe themselves to be lucky are often comparatively happy and optimistic whereas people who believe themselves to be unlucky may feel comparatively anxious and depressed (Day & Maltby, 2003; Wiseman, 2003). Luck can also correlate with superstitious behaviors that increase opportunities of good fortune occurring like avoiding walking under ladders or blowing left and right for safe travels before crossing train tracks, which inadvertently increases your chances of seeing an oncoming train. Although previous studies have explored

1615-549: A reward; but never cease to do thy work" (Gita, 2.47). There are five causes of all actions as given in the Samkhya wisdom; says Gita— "The physical body (adhisthana), the lower 'I am' (karta), the means of perception (karanam), the varied multiple efforts (vividhasch pruthak cheshta) and the Cosmic Wheel of Action (daivam), these five sources together are responsible for success or failure of any action" ( Gita, 18 . 14–15 ). Here

1700-899: A strong belief in superstition. Some of these religions include a belief that third parties can influence an individual's luck. Shamans and witches are both respected and feared, based on their ability to cause good or bad fortune for those in villages near them. Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo , producing positive thinking and improving people's responses to events. In personality psychology, people reliably differ from each other depending on four key aspects: beliefs in luck, rejection of luck, being lucky, and being unlucky. People who believe in good luck are more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, and have better moods. People who believe they are personally unlucky experience more anxiety, and less likely to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. One 2010 study found that golfers who were told they were using

1785-465: A way of resolving issues for example, where there are two possible outcomes, flipping a coin may determine the outcome. This practice has gone on for thousands of years, a common contemporary example is the coin toss at the start of a sporting event which may determine who goes first. Most cultures consider some numbers to be lucky or unlucky. This is found to be particularly strong in Asian cultures , where

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1870-419: A way to propitiate the gods and earn favor for the city offering the sacrifice. An alternative interpretation would be that the sacrificial blood was considered as a necessary element for the gods to maintain the proper working order of the universe, in the same way that oil would be applied to an automobile to keep it working as designed. Many traditional African practices, such as voodoo and hoodoo , have

1955-422: Is mere luck" rather than a property of a person or thing. There is also a series of spiritual , or supernatural beliefs regarding fortune. These beliefs vary widely from one to another, but most agree that luck can be influenced through spiritual means by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain circumstances. Luck can also be a belief in an organization of fortunate and unfortunate events. Luck

2040-418: Is serendipity . Another view holds that "luck is probability taken personally." A rationalist approach to luck includes the application of the rules of probability and an avoidance of unscientific beliefs. The rationalist thinks that the belief in luck is a result of poor reasoning or wishful thinking . To a rationalist, a believer in luck who asserts that something has influenced his or her luck commits

2125-557: Is a form of superstition which is interpreted differently by different individuals. Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity , which he described as "a meaningful coincidence". Abrahamic religions believe God controls future events; belief in luck or fate is criticised in Isaiah 65:11–12 : But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to

2210-648: Is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e., fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical , astrological , architectural , cosmological , geographical , and topographical dimensions. Historically, as well as in many parts of

2295-405: Is an emphasis on continual compromise and balance in order to maintain harmony. Feng shui has been observed to play an important role in the mediation of rural conflict. Through its amoral explanation of differential fortunes, feng shui provides a universal set of cosmic rules communities seek to abide by. This can promote community unity while also creating numerous points of polarization. Through

2380-593: Is based on converting virtually anything material into a pure number , using that number in an attempt to detect something meaningful about reality, and trying to predict or calculate the future based on lucky numbers. Numerology is folkloric by nature and started when humans first learned to count. Through human history it was, and still is, practiced by many cultures of the world from traditional fortune-telling to on-line psychic reading . Dudley describes numerology as, "the delusion that numbers have power over events." Different thinkers like Thomas Kuhn have discussed

2465-438: Is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord". Ecclesiastes 9:11 states (in a passage that describes events with different outcomes - e.g. a race, a battle, the gaining of wealth and favour) that "time and chance happeneth to them all". Whilst the latter passage from Ecclesiastes suggests no things in human affairs are certain, the extract from Proverbs indicates that the outcome of something as apparently random as

2550-400: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages good fortune Supernatural interpretations of luck consider it to be an attribute of a person or object, or the result of a favorable or unfavorable view of a deity upon a person. These interpretations often prescribe how luckiness or unluckiness can be obtained, such as by carrying

2635-438: Is improved and negative (bad luck) if it is worsened. A poker player who is doing well (playing successfully, winning) is said to be "running good". Almost all sports contain elements of luck. A statistical analysis in the book The Success Equation attempted to elucidate the differing balance between skill and luck with respect to how teams finished in the major North American sports leagues . This analysis concluded that, on

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2720-404: Is inherently a form of ancestor worship . Popular in farming communities for centuries, it was built on the idea that the ghosts of ancestors and other independent, intangible forces, both personal and impersonal, affected the material world, and that these forces needed to be placated through rites and suitable burial places. For a fee, a Feng shui practitioner would identify suitable locations for

2805-433: Is manipulated in a way that is very likely to elicit positive affect as well. Thus, it is difficult to articulate whether the observed effects of luck are due to chronic beliefs about luck, temporary changes in how lucky people feel, or because of changes caused by the positive affect that is experienced. Their research showed that priming participants subliminally with luck-related stimuli made them feel luckier and happier. It

2890-504: Is not associated with the notion of probability or chance but rather with that of fate or divine help; a bestower of success can also be called speed , as in "Christ be our speed" (William Robertson, Phraseologia generalis , 1693). The notion of probability was expressed by the Latin loanword chance , adopted in Middle English from the late 13th century, literally describing an outcome as

2975-431: Is not prone to accidents. In the rationalist perspective, probability is only affected by confirmed causal connections. The gambler's fallacy and inverse gambler's fallacy both explain some reasoning problems in common beliefs in luck. They involve denying the unpredictability of random events: "I haven't rolled a seven all week, so I'll definitely roll one tonight". Philosopher Daniel Dennett wrote that "luck

3060-494: Is referred to as "luck" by others. Mesoamerican religions, such as the Aztecs , Mayans and Incas , had particularly strong beliefs regarding the relationship between rituals and the gods, which could in a similar sense to Abrahamic religions be called luck or providence. In these cultures, human sacrifice (both of willing volunteers and captured enemies), as well as self-sacrifice by means of bloodletting , could possibly be seen as

3145-824: Is the oldest branch of feng shui. Qing Wuzi in the Han dynasty describes it in the Book of the Tomb and Guo Pu of the Jin dynasty follows up with a more complete description in The Book of Burial . The Form branch was originally concerned with the location and orientation of tombs ( Yin House feng shui ), which was of great importance. The branch then progressed to the consideration of homes and other buildings ( Yang House feng shui ). The "form" in Form branch refers to

3230-810: Is there like me?" He is a man of clouded vision and he does not see the Truth. The definition which is much closer to the concept of luck in Islam is "a force that brings good fortune or adversity" Quran 17:13 : "And (for) every man We have fastened to him his fate (fortune) in his neck, and We will bring forth for him (on the) Day (of) the Resurrection a record which he will find wide open". A very long discussion continues on how this prefixed destiny , fortune or luck defines attitudes and living behavior and so as to how much amends one can make in this predetermined fate by one's own contribution through positive actions in accordance with

3315-401: Is to balance yin and yang in the body, the goal of feng shui has been described as aligning a city, site, building, or object with yin-yang force fields. Eight diagrams known as bagua loom large in feng shui, and both predate their mentions in the I Ching . The Lo (River) Chart was developed first, and is sometimes associated with Later Heaven arrangement of the bagua . This and

3400-465: Is to take advantage of vital qi by appropriate siting of graves and structures. Polarity is expressed in feng shui as yin and yang theory. That is, it is of two parts: one creating an exertion and one receiving the exertion. The development of this theory and its corollary, five phase theory (five element theory) , have also been linked with astronomical observations of sunspot . The Five Elements or Forces ( wu xing ) – which, according to

3485-678: The Yellow River Chart ( Hetu , sometimes associated with the Earlier Heaven bagua ) are linked to astronomical events of the sixth millennium BC, and with the Turtle Calendar from the time of Yao. The Turtle Calendar of Yao (found in the Yaodian section of the Shangshu or Book of Documents ) dates to 2300 BC, plus or minus 250 years. In Yaodian , the cardinal directions are determined by

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3570-489: The Arabic language there is a word which directly means "luck", which is حظ ḥaẓẓ , and a related word for "lucky", محظوظ maḥẓūẓ . It is also forbidden to believe in luck or anything else related to luck, as it is classified as shirk (associating partners to Allah or giving any share of any attribution which belongs to Allah and Allah alone). The Tunisians retain some native beliefs of Berber origin such as

3655-525: The Ming ). The astronomical history of feng shui is evident in the development of instruments and techniques. According to the Zhouli , the original feng shui instrument may have been a gnomon . Chinese used circumpolar stars to determine the north–south axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some of the cases, as Paul Wheatley observed, they bisected

3740-658: The White Lotus Rebellion and Taiping Revolt , but feng shui's decentralization made it difficult to suppress in popular and elite circles. Under China's Century of Humiliation , feng shui began to receive implicit government encouragement as a method of colonial resistance. Through the militarization of the countryside, the local gentry used feng shui to justify and promote popular attacks against missionaries and colonial infrastructure. This allowed local elites and government officials to bypass foreign extraterritoriality and maintain local sovereignty. This, in addition to

3825-506: The evil eye . A number of practices, such as shutters painted blue are also used to repel evil spirits. Darke and Freedman (1997) were the first researchers systematically to address directly both the concept and the measurement of belief in luck as a deterministic and personal attribute. They define luck belief as the perception that good luck is "a somewhat stable characteristic that consistently favors some people but not others". They define disbelief in luck as "a tendency to agree with

3910-504: The role of chance in scientific discoveries . Richard Wiseman did a ten-year scientific study into the nature of luck that has revealed that, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune. His research revealed that "Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, making lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, creating self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations, and adopting

3995-427: The " post hoc ergo propter hoc " logical fallacy : that because two events are connected sequentially, they are connected causally as well. In general, this fallacy is that: More contemporary authors writing on the subject believe that the definition of good destiny is: One who enjoys good health; has the physical and mental capabilities of achieving his goals in life; has good appearance, and; has happiness in mind and

4080-614: The Chinese countryside. Feng shui experts remained highly sought after, in spite of numerous campaigns to suppress the practice. It was only after China's Reform and Opening-Up that feng shui would see a complete resurgence. As economic liberalization promoted social competition and individualism, feng shui was able to find new footing due to its focus on individualism and amoral justification of social differences. Feng shui views good and bad fortune as tangible elements that can be managed through predictable and consistent rules. This involves

4165-419: The Chinese, are metal, earth, fire, water, and wood – are first mentioned in Chinese literature in a chapter of the classic Book of History . They play a very important part in Chinese thought: ‘elements’ meaning generally not so much the actual substances as the forces essential to human life. Earth is a buffer, or an equilibrium achieved when the polarities cancel each other. While the goal of Chinese medicine

4250-536: The Puyang tomb, at Hongshan ceremonial centers and at the late Longshan settlement at Lutaigang, suggests that gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) existed in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhoubi Suanjing . Cosmography that bears a resemblance to modern feng shui devices and formulas appears on a piece of jade unearthed at Hanshan and dated around 3000 BC. Archaeologist Li Xueqin links

4335-510: The angle between the directions of the rising and setting sun to find north. This technique provided the more precise alignments of the Shang walls at Yanshi and Zhengzhou . Rituals for using a feng shui instrument required a diviner to examine current sky phenomena to set the device and adjust their position in relation to the device. The oldest examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes, also known as shi . These consist of

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4420-456: The antecedents and consequences of luck using attribution theory (e. g., Fischoff, 1976; Weiner et al., 1987), personality variables (Darke & Freedman, 1997a;b), and more recently a cognitive priming approach (DeMarree et al., 2005; Kramer & Block, 2008) research on the underlying mechanism of how luck influences consumer judgment and behavior has been noticeably absent in the extant literature. Moreover, in much of this previous work, luck

4505-553: The book of Job illustrates this in what God allowed Satan to do in the life of Job. It is also involved in the evil that God allowed Joseph's brothers to do to Joseph in order to accomplish a greater good, a good not apparent to Joseph until years later (Genesis 50:20). In Hinduism the Bhagavad-Gita values "Purushartha" more than mere Luck or Fate. The Gita says; "Set thy heart upon selfless performance of thy natural duty (Svakarma, Svadharma), but never on its reward. Work not for

4590-608: The contemporary Chinese world, feng shui was used to choose the orientation of buildings, dwellings, and spiritually significant structures such as tombs . One scholar writes that in contemporary Western societies, however, "feng shui tends to be reduced to interior design for health and wealth. It has become increasingly visible through 'feng shui consultants' and corporate architects who charge large sums of money for their analysis, advice and design." Feng shui has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers, and it has been described as

4675-512: The context of gambling remains detectable in the word's connotations; luck is a way of understanding a personal chance event. Luck has three aspects: Before the adoption of luck at the end of the Middle Ages, Old English and Middle English expressed the notion of "good fortune" with the word speed (Middle English spede , Old English spēd ); speed besides "good fortune" had the wider meaning of " prosperity , profit , abundance "; it

4760-441: The cultural aspects of feng shui, made the practice a powerful expression of demarcation between foreign and Chinese identities. Following the rise of Communist China, religion and traditional cosmology were suppressed more than ever, in the name of ideological purity. Decentralized heterodoxies, like feng shui, were best adapted to survive this period. As a result, feng shui became one of the only alternative forms of thought within

4845-597: The design to the liuren astrolabe , zhinan zhen and luopan . Beginning with palatial structures at Erlitou , all capital cities of China followed rules of feng shui for their design and layout. During the Zhou era, the Kaogong ji ( Chinese : 考工記 ; "Manual of Crafts") codified these rules. The carpenter's manual Lu ban jing ( 魯班經 ; "Lu ban's manuscript") codified rules for builders. Graves and tombs also followed rules of feng shui from Puyang to Mawangdui and beyond. From

4930-404: The determination of which player moves first), while the outcome of Snakes and Ladders is entirely based on random dice rolls. In poker , especially games with a communal board, pure luck may decide a winning hand. Luck in games involving chance is defined as the change in a player's equity after a random event such as a die roll or card draw. Luck is positive (good luck) if the player's position

5015-684: The development of their land and resources. This served to prevent the Tragedy of the Commons . When conflict did erupt during development, feng shui experts played an important role in balancing interests and enforcing orderly development. Different branches of feng shui were developed and embraced in response to differing local geographies. In southern China , this often resulted in villages located on high hills safe from flooding and erosion, with pooling streams that allow for easy irrigation and drainage, fields downstream fertilized by sewage, and graves located on

5100-551: The earliest records, the structures of the graves and dwellings seem to have followed the same rules. Some of the foundations of feng shui go back more than 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass. It originated in Chinese astronomy . Some current techniques can be traced to Neolithic China, while others were added later (most notably the Han dynasty , the Tang , the Song , and

5185-573: The eye, whereas shaking hands with a chimney sweep might be considered lucky partly because it is a kind but unpleasant thing to do given the dirty nature of their work. In Chinese and Japanese culture, the association of the number 4 as a homophone with the word for death may explain why it is considered unlucky. Extremely complicated and sometimes contradictory systems for prescribing auspicious and inauspicious times and arrangements of things have been devised, for example feng shui in Chinese culture and systems of astrology in various cultures around

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5270-405: The goodness of luck ... picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gautama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood. D.I, 9–12 Belief in luck is prevalent in many predominantly Buddhist countries. In Thailand , Buddhists may wear verses (takrut) or lucky amulets which have been blessed by monks for protection against harm. The book of Proverbs 16:33 states that "the lot

5355-461: The highest hills far from water and on otherwise unvaluable farmland. To this degree, feng shui could help communities manage their spaces to match their physical, environmental, and aesthetic needs. A core aspect of feng shui has been its understanding of polarity. As opposed to western dualism , in which concepts are completely oppositional and irreconcilable, Chinese polarity sees opposing concepts as constantly changing and inseparable. The result

5440-483: The hiring of feng shui experts, disputes between villagers can be peaceably resolved without losing face. In addition, these impersonal cosmic rules help regulate local jealousies over wealth and prestige. As early as the Tang dynasty , the Chinese state recognized the disruptive power popular expressions of feng shui had over government authority. At the community level, feng shui could play an important role in community mobilization and political protest. By elevating

5525-457: The inauspicious Alakshmi in Hinduism. The English noun luck appears comparatively late, during the 1480s, as a loan from Low German , Dutch or Frisian luk , a short form of gelucke ( Middle High German gelücke ). Compare to old Slavic word lukyj ( лукый ) - appointed by destiny and old Russian luchaj ( лучаи ) - destiny, fortune . It likely entered English as a gambling term, and

5610-409: The leading of wicked King Ahab into battle (2 Chronicles 18:18-19). Ahab's death was not merely the result of a randomly shot arrow, but as 2 Chronicles 18 reveals, God actively directed the events that led Ahab into battle and used that randomly shot arrow to accomplish his intended will for Ahab that day. God's passive will involves God allowing, rather than causing, something to happen. Chapter 1 of

5695-402: The living and the dead to achieve shū fú . The primary underlying value was material success for the living. According to Stuart Vyse , feng shui is "a very popular superstition." The PRC government has also labeled it as superstitious. Feng shui is classified as a pseudoscience since it exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects such as making claims about the functioning of

5780-438: The management of qi, an imagined form of cosmic "energy." In situating the local environment to maximize good qi , one can optimize their own good fortune. Feng shui holds that one's external environment can affect one's internal state. A goal of the practice is to achieve a "perfect spot", a location and an axis in time that can help one achieve a state of shū fú ( 舒服 ) or harmony with the universe. Traditional feng shui

5865-535: The marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals: The diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty. The sifang is much older, however. It was used at Niuheliang, and figured large in Hongshan culture 's astronomy. And it is this area of China that is linked to Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) who allegedly invented

5950-527: The notion of chance . Luck is interpreted and understood in many different ways. Luck refers to that which happens to a person beyond that person's control. This view incorporates phenomena that are chance happenings, a person's place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved, or where the uncertainty is irrelevant. Within this framework, one can differentiate between three different types of luck: Circumstantial luck with accidental happenstance of favorable discoveries and/or inventions

6035-449: The obtaining of "lucky" telephone numbers , automobile license plate numbers, and household addresses (such as those which contain the digit 6 or 8 ) are actively sought, sometimes at great monetary expense. Numerology , as it relates to luck, is closer to an art than to a science, yet numerologists, astrologists or psychics may disagree. It is interrelated to astrology , and to some degree to parapsychology and spirituality and

6120-439: The rational view of luck as random and unreliable" (p. 490). To capture their unidimensional definition of irrational luck belief, Darke and Freedman developed a 12-item measure. Unfortunately, they found their measure "does not seem particularly good at distinguishing between people who [say] they [are] typically lucky from those who [say] they [are] typically unlucky". They also found factor analyses of their measure produced

6205-412: The rolling of dice or the tossing of a coin remains subject to God's will or sovereignty. In his book God, Chance and Purpose: Can God have it both ways? , Bartholomew argues that chance is part of God's creation but that not even God can accurately predict what chance will do. God's sovereignty involves two aspects. God's active will or sovereignty would involve something God causes to happen such as

6290-421: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Good Fortune . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Good_Fortune&oldid=1241741704 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

6375-424: The shape of the environment, such as mountains, rivers, plateaus, buildings, and general surroundings. It considers the five celestial animals (vermillion phoenix, azure dragon, white tiger, black turtle, and the yellow snake), the yin-yang concept and the traditional five elements ( Wu Xing : wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). The Form branch analyzes the shape of the land and flow of the wind and water to find

6460-521: The south-pointing spoon (see compass ). Traditional feng shui is an ancient system based upon the observation of heavenly time and earthly space. Literature, as well as archaeological evidence, provide some idea of the origins and nature of feng shui techniques. Aside from books, there is also a strong oral history. In many cases, masters have passed on their techniques only to selected students or relatives. Modern practitioners of feng shui draw from several branches in their own practices. The Form Branch

6545-558: The sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter Belief in the extent of Divine Providence varies; most acknowledge providence as at least a partial, if not complete influence on luck. Christianity , in its early development, accommodated many traditional practices which at different times, accepted omens and practiced forms of ritual sacrifice in order to divine the will of their supreme being or to influence divine favoritism. The concepts of " Divine Grace " or " Blessing " as they are described by believers closely resemble what

6630-604: The teachings of Islam. There is no concept of luck in Islam other than actions determined by Allah based on the merit of the choice made by human beings. It is stated in the Qur'an ( Sura : Adh-Dhariyat (The Winds that Scatter) verse:22) that one's sustenance is pre-determined in heaven when the Lord says: "And in the heaven is your provision and that which ye are promised." One should supplicate to Allah to better one's life rather than hold faith in un-Islamic acts such as using "lucky charms". In

6715-548: The traditional branches, and focus mainly on the use of the bagua . The Eight Life Aspirations style of feng shui is a simple system which coordinates each of the eight cardinal directions with a specific life aspiration or station such as family, wealth, fame, etc., which come from the Bagua government of the eight aspirations . Life Aspirations is not otherwise a geomantic system. San Yuan Method , 三元派 (Pinyin: sān yuán pài) San He Method , 三合派 (environmental analysis using

6800-618: The universe. In 4000 BC, the doors of dwellings in Banpo were aligned with the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice —this sited the homes for solar gain . During the Zhou era, Yingshi was known as Ding and it was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing . The late Yangshao site at Dadiwan (c. 3500–3000 BC) includes a palace-like building (F901) at its center. The building faces south and borders

6885-456: The word "daivam" does not mean luck, fate, fortune, providence, or destiny. None of these English words are the exact synonym for the Sanskrit word "Daivam" here. "Daivam" is the Cosmic Wheel of Action (Kshara-gati, Apara-Prakriti, Maya) that keeps the perfect account of our past and present actions. A man who says "Nothing is impossible for me; I am the only hero of all these achievements; who else

6970-459: The world which are not amenable to testing with the scientific method . It has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers, and has been described as a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. Qi ( 气 , pronounced "chee") is a movable positive or negative life force which plays an essential role in feng shui. The Book of Burial says that burial takes advantage of "vital qi ". The goal of feng shui

7055-731: The world. Many polytheistic religions have specific gods or goddesses that are associated with luck, both good and bad, including Fortuna and Felicitas in the Ancient Roman religion (the former related to the words "fortunate" and "unfortunate" in English), Dedun in Nubian religion, the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology , mythical American serviceman John Frum in Polynesian cargo cults , and

7140-506: Was also found that the effects of priming luck using subliminal messages increased participants' estimates of the likelihood of favorable events, their participation in lotteries, the amount of money they invested in relatively risky financial options and these effects appeared to be mediated by temporary changes in perceptions of luck rather than by affect. Gautama Buddha , the founder of Buddhism , taught his followers not to believe in luck. He taught that all things which happen must have

7225-550: Was used for feng shui since its invention. Traditional feng shui instrumentation consists of the Luopan or the earlier south-pointing spoon ( 指南針 zhinan zhen )—though a conventional compass could suffice if one understood the differences. Not to be confused with the South-pointing chariot which was used for navigation. A feng shui ruler (a later invention) may also be employed. After the Song dynasty, divination began to decline as

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