Good luck!

Recently a number of books and research projects have been exploring the role of luck in success.  The findings seem to be that while talent, hard work, passion and creative commitment are all important to success, luck is a very big factor in the actual distribution of success.

One study, in fact, found that "in general, mediocre-but-lucky people were much more successful than more-talented-but-unlucky individuals. The most successful [persons in the study] tended to be those who were only slightly above average in talent but with a lot of luck in their lives."  (From https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-role-of-luck-in-life-success-is-far-greater-than-we-realized/)

While not discounting my own role in the successes and failures of my life, somehow this finding does seem to diminish somewhat my tendency to compare my success or failure relative to others, and to draw moral conclusions (usually negative about myself) about myself in comparison to others.

I wonder also -- going a little more theoretical and big-picture for a moment, if it reveals the lie in the Protestant work ethic that has so shaped our society over the last few centuries -- the teaching that God (or life or society, if you are not overtly religious) rewards those who work hard, and that we earn (and therefore deserve, and deserve to keep and use as we wish) all that comes our way.  

When we consider the pride that this ethic can generate in the lives of those who are successful, and the self-loathing, bitterness, depression and anger it can nourish in the hearts of those who are not successful, it makes me wonder at how much our religion can be part of the problem.

But also at how religion -- re-examined and carefully understood and practiced, can also be part of the answer.

This morning I came across this passage quoted from the Qur'an 4:36:

Serve God and do not associate any thing with God, and do something beautiful to both your parents, and to the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the neighbour who is near and the neighbour who is farther away, and the companion by your side, and the traveller, and those whom your right hands possess; surely God does not love the one who is proud, boastful.

The Jewish Scriptures say the same thing.  In fact, the commandments to care for the orphan, the widow and the alien are the most-repeated commandments in the Old Testament.

The Christian ethic is no different.

And even the scientific mind comes to a similar conclusion.  The article cited above ends by noting that "the researchers argue that the following factors are all important in giving [all] people more chances of success: a stimulating environment rich in opportunities, a good education, intensive training, and an efficient strategy for the distribution of funds and resources."

I wonder if what's different, though, because of the research about the role of luck in life and in the success anyone has, is that we now have reason to see the redistribution of resources (i.e. better sharing of what people have) not so much as good-hearted charity by those who have, but as simple, humble honesty about what and how we have.