I think that Feng Shui is helping our finances...am I nuts?

moggins

I think that a certain poster on here should get himself a copy of The Luck Factor and read it.

The Money Tree and the little Buddha may all be placebos but it's been well proved that people who think themselves to be lucky will be because they place themselves in situations where good things can arise, unlucky people are those who believe themselves to be unlucky and therefore never see the opportunities before their eyes because they can't believe they could be lucky and there has to be a catch?

If these 'placebos' help people to believe that good things will come, then they will, purely because they are looking for good things and not expecting the bad to drop out of the sky.

The optimists shall inherit the earth!

Loadsabob

John_Jackson wrote:

That was quite a vacuous posting.
Out of interest, when did skeptics think the world was flat?
You don't know what a skeptic is do you?

Just had this image in my head of some bloke running around saying "you know what, I think the world may be round...just makes sense to me...Can't prove it yet, but watch this space..."

And a bunch of people sitting around (looking "sceptical") going "uh, yeah, right mate, well, you believe what you like, come back here when you have some hard evidence..looks pretty flat from where we're sitting." Just using your own definition of the term.

I would say you don't know what vacuous is, but in some respects you really do seem to!

Loadsabob

elona wrote:

Are we using the term "sceptic"

or the term "skeptic" as in "the amazing Randi"?

They're variations, both correct...I prefer the one with the "c" in this thread, as it somehow seems more apt...as alluded to by Squeaky!

John_Jackson_2

Well, we’ve seen the usual standard of debate from “believers”. The fallacious arguments and reasoning, the name-calling, the argument to invincible ignorance etc.

The straw man fallacy: where you invent a caricature of the person arguing against you and ridicule the person rather than their argument: no one has yet put a case forward stating the benefits of Feng Shui (or other irrational ideas).

Many skeptics think that it’s a waste of time debating such people; I’m still not so sure.

Feng Shui as a bit of fun, yes OK. Making financial decisions based on the (completely contradictory) principles of Feng Shui, however, I think is a big error of judgement. If only one person understands my point, then I think it’s been worth it.

As for believing in luck: One of my favourite quotes is, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” by Henry Ford.

That’s known as the “self fulfilling prophecy”. That relates to attitude though, not a belief in luck.

So I take your point Moggins, but I don’t quite agree with it. Thinking lucky (could we call that one the National Lottery fallacy? ) will not make you lucky: affirmative action is what’s required to bring about positive change.

With a debate there has to be a context. I’m not arguing against fun (as the defenders are trying to make out), I’m saying that believing things like Feng Shui can be harmful if you take it seriously.

Rage_in_Eden

er, have all the arguing people gone yet? <<hiding underneath coconut shell>> for a minute I thought we'd been invaded by the Royston Vasey mob I encountered the other day......

I've been to the library and got a book on feng shui out - well, it cant hurt. how do you know what's going to happen if you don't try? ((Or perhaps some people would prefer we all stayed in our mud huts going "urgh, don't think much of this new fangled fire do you?"))

Besides remind me again how many chinese there are who follow this????

Loadsabob

John_Jackson wrote:

Feng Shui as a bit of fun, yes OK. Making financial decisions based on the (completely contradictory) principles of Feng Shui, however, I think is a big error of judgement. If only one person understands my point, then I think it’s been worth it. With a debate there has to be a context. I’m not arguing against fun (as the defenders are trying to make out), I’m saying that believing things like Feng Shui can be harmful if you take it seriously.

Okay, I'm sorry for ribbing you, and I know you have some serious points and concerns and were just inputting a veiw into the debate. I tend to be quite wary about any sort of evangelism though, be it religion, mysticism or scepticism, hence my ascerbic responses.

Any belief system can be unhealthy if taken to extremes and relied on, obviously. I believe scepticism can do the same harm to a person by blinkering them into only one world view and becoming their defining characterstic.

Personally, I don't call myself a "believer" in a great deal, though I hold open the possibilities of lots of things. I would feel very ignorant and foolish if I disbelieved everything I didn't have proof for. My flat-earth point, simple as it was, was just a demonstration that for many of the things for which we now have proof, there was once none. And for many of the things that MAY exist / be true, for which there is currently no proof, there one day may be. Then the believers will turn out to have been right, and the sceptics will be wrong...though they'll never admit they were wrong because they'll hold that they were right to be sceptical until proof were offered! :rolleyes:

Blimey!

I don't think taking Feng Shui seriously is even harmful, I think living a life based solely on Feng Shui for decision-making could be harmful, as relying on any one thing could. There's quite a difference.

squeaky

John_Jackson wrote:

With a debate there has to be a context. I’m not arguing against fun (as the defenders are trying to make out), I’m saying that believing things like Feng Shui can be harmful if you take it seriously.

Well now that you've said it (more than once) perhaps you can agree to disagree, let it lie, and let this topic meander on as it will.

I do NOT want to have to go to the trouble of splitting posts out of this thread to move them to the discussion board. That's way too much like hard work.

John_Jackson_2

Loadsabob,

Skepticism is not a dogma: what is skepticism?

At least understand it if you're going to ridicule it.

Rage_in_Eden

You heard Squeaky..... move along now, nothing to see here.

Can we please get back to some nice light-hearted OS musings?????

John_Jackson_2

squeaky wrote:

Well now that you've said it (more than once) perhaps you can agree to disagree, let it lie, and let this topic meander on as it will.

What?

Do you mean have an unbalanced debate?

Let the believers put their case forward (whatever it is), and tell others to shut up

That's fine coming from someone who contributed comments like: "And there was me thinking that a sceptic was a tank you kept poo in." :rolleyes:

I have said all I wanted to say, and hopefully some people will see my point.

Is it not the ethos of this place for people to help each other become "savvy consumers"?