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vcindiana
12 April 2008, 11:33 PM
Recently I came upon the topic of RISK. As I realized risk is very part of our lives and seldom in our daily life we pay any thoughts about taking risks in any of our actions. I guess there are too many good things or to say benefits we see in our daily life, we just ignore the risks and go on. Every time you walk across the street or travel by car or plane, you take a risk. In the pursuit of desires, passions and ambitions, people take great risks every day without thinking twice about it. There are situations we just do things then we realize we should not have done. Had we paused for a little time and thought before our actions, the results would have been much different.
On an entirely different side there are several situations the risks are so prohibitive we dare not take any chance at all and we do not even go there let alone think about it. The downside of this is we let go many great things in exploring or discovering things or even helping someone else.
We can do nothing without taking even a little amount of risk. There is no way we can eliminate all risk, we will soon have sterile, stagnant and unstimulating learning environments
This brings us to look at how we do our risk analysis. I guess we need to have a clear strategy of acquiring knowledge and wisdom to arrive at a decision to take or not to take an action.
Probably some of you already know this. Blaise Pascal a French mathematician in 1600 AD spending most of his time in trying to construct mathematical formula for quantifying probabilities came with his way of benefit/risk analysis.
In any action scenario there will be two options, one to do and another not to do. In each of these option then there will be two more options, what would be the best that can happen and what would be the worst thing can happen.
In his book “God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, he makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. Let us look at the belief in God, it does not matter one is Hindu or Muslim or Christian. If there is God and I believe there is God, then the best is yet to come. If I do not believe in God then the worst thing would be an eternal risk. If there is no God and I believe there is God then the best thing would be that I go through this life with heightened endorphin. If I do not believe and there is no God there are no serious consequences. Based on this analysis there is more to gain in believing/trusting than not believing. This does not mean person who does not believe in God is a bad person and vice versa. Best vs. worst analysis does not always result in positive outcome, but a worse outcome would be unlikely, as one has done thoughtful and careful analysis, one has considered the various possibilities in a reasonable, logical manner before making any uncertain or risky decision. This type of analysis improves the odds and I can find comfort in the decision regardless of the outcome. I am not suggesting this is the only way of looking into B/W analysis but it may be worth starting here.
Let me give another example. As we all know teenage pregnancy is a hot topic as it carries high emotional, medical and social risks. Sexual urge is very natural and as we became more civilized we artificially raised the age. I guess it was common in the earlier times, people got married before they became adults and they did not have to face the confusing and stressful “adolescent “period. As parents, how do we teach the youngsters about not getting into the “risky” behavior? Using the above B/W analysis we can constantly remind these youngsters to think strongly on their own, to list all the possibilities in the 4 scenarios and to make their “own” best choice. Teenage pregnancy is the product of not doing this simple home work and risking severe unpleasant consequences. Teenagers are poor listeners especially when it comes from the parents. But as parents we can lovingly empower them with the right tools and make them responsible for their own decisions. God given “free will” is wonderful, each one is made to take RISKS; it is up to each one of us whether we want to put our brain to work diligently before we take any actions.
In order to have this kind of analysis I need both knowledge and wisdom and the only way these become available are through my own personal experiences. Personal experience is a valid and convincing form of evidence similar to a scientist doing experiments, making observations and concluding. It is my own belief that I see God in those experiences.
Love, ............ VC

yajvan
13 April 2008, 05:47 PM
Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste,

The Universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf....Shakti Gawain, author

Taipan
19 April 2008, 01:07 AM
Om Tat Sat