Quote:
Originally Posted by ADL Colin
Yes I know they CAN. I have a degree in physics. just don't understand why you would make such a strong mathematical claim about something difficult to quantify. "Did he really think he was going to succeed or did he just say it would"?
Also. what do you mean by your example?
"I think if you tell yourself something that you can affect is going to happen - the chances of that occurrence actually happening when compared to the suggestion not being there are at least squared" So if there is a 50/50 chance of me hitting a free throw normally then you have .5/.5 = 1. You square that and still get 1.
But I think you mean the chances of the event NOT happening are squared. So a 50/50 free throw shooter has a 1/2 chance of missing. Square that and you get 1/4 which is the new chance of missing. So you could will yourself into being a 75% free throw shooter instead of 50%. I find that difficult to believe. There are NBA players who practice thousands and thousands of free throws for a decade and don't improve that much. Lack of envisioning their success?
And so a 50% free throw shooter can become 75% purely through willpower? And then a 75% free throw shooter could become a 94% shooter?
And this is the MINIMUM improvement one might make? They might approach
100% certainty of making a free throw if they believe they can?
It just ignores all kinds of limitations. How well do I have to envision my being able to dunk a basketball in order to actually do it? The only time I ever dunked a basketball I was sleeping.
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Forgot you were a physics guy.
On the math for a moment - I think I misused the concept of "chance"... I was speaking from the perspective of growth in achievement to a task over time, and not the actual probability from instance to instance... not really "figuratively" - but I can see now where you were coming from, and yeah - it's in the same ballpark.
Insofar as the psychological stuff - you're thinking much too acutely for my philosophy on the matter. You're thinking "a 50% free throw shooter can become 75%," and I'm thinking "a 50% free throw shooter can increase his percentage" (though maybe Shaq is the exception to that rule
)
I don't, personally, follow the principals in "The Secret" or astrology, myself... but I do recognize that the power of suggestion - whether we harness the power ourselves (As "The Secret" seems to suggest), or we let it have a more passive effect on us in merely participating in another's belief (such as in Astrology... or - even more generally - most "religions," in my opinion)... and, in that sense, I believe in the power of both "The Secret" and astrology. That's the unifying thread between the two ideas. The raw power that I feel both principals feed on: Belief.
The impetus in any course of action we take is first the thought of committing that course of action. In the paradigm of not having that driving force - where then the driving force is introduced - the growth in the chance of success at completing that course of action is at least exponential.
And that's all I really meant.
Of course, there's no chance at success if one does not choose to actually "make it happen." Wishing won't make it so.
But belief is, in itself, an action... and has the power to both cause one's feet to move without noticing it, and to see things that might not completely exist.... and sometimes - that's all you need to complete some action.