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Thu 12 Nov, 2009 02:04 pm
A self fulfilling prophecy usually is defined as a false prophecy that becomes true due to various direct or indirect influences of the prophecy itself.
The Buddhist quote, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world,” seems to me to be closely related to the idea of a self fulfilling prophecy.
It seems apparent that someone's reality can be influenced when continuously submitted to someone else's reality. On a larger scale, an entire culture can be created when its population is continuously submitted to the influences of an ideal held by a few.
In the case where a prophecy is now a reality, what becomes of the original “uninfluenced” outcome?
What is to become of a resistor of the new reality? Do they turn inward and create an individual world for themselves in the face of what is now a reality? Do they submit to it? Do they prophesy the original, if it even exists anymore? Does anyone know where I put my pants? (just kidding—I'm wearing 'em)
@chad3006,
chad3006;103167 wrote:A self fulfilling prophecy usually is defined as a false prophecy that becomes true due to various direct or indirect influences of the prophecy itself.
The Buddhist quote, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world," seems to me to be closely related to the idea of a self fulfilling prophecy.
It seems apparent that someone's reality can be influenced when continuously submitted to someone else's reality. On a larger scale, an entire culture can be created when its population is continuously submitted to the influences of an ideal held by a few.
In the case where a prophecy is now a reality, what becomes of the original "uninfluenced" outcome?
What is to become of a resistor of the new reality? Do they turn inward and create an individual world for themselves in the face of what is now a reality? Do they submit to it? Do they prophesy the original, if it even exists anymore? Does anyone know where I put my pants? (just kidding-I'm wearing 'em)
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A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. Although examples of such prophecies can be found in literature as far back as ancient Greece and ancient India, it is 20th-century sociologist Robert K. Merton who is credited with coining the expression "self-fulfilling prophecy" and formalizing its structure and consequences. In his book Social Theory and Social Structure, Merton gives as a feature of the self-fulfilling prophecy: Ie: when Roxanna falsely believes that her marriage will fail and fears such failure will occur that it actually causes the marriage to fail.
[INDENT]
The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false[1] definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the original false conception come 'true'. This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.
[/INDENT]
In other words, a prophecy declared as truth when it is actually false may sufficiently influence people, either through fear or logical confusion, so that their reactions ultimately fulfill the once-false prophecy.
@chad3006,
OK thanks! Now we know what a self fulfilling prophecy is. I chose not to include such a lengthy definition because I figured most people would know what I was talking about. It really didn't answer any question I had though.
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