Self-Fulfilling Prophecy....

A few days ago, when I was reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the umpteenth time, I came to the part where Professor Dumbledore explains to Harry about the self-fulfilling nature of the prophecy that Trelawney had predicted. 

     Indeed, like Dumbledore said, if Voldemort had not killed Harry's parents and made him an orphan along with giving him his own powers, Harry wouldn't have thought about killing Voldemort. He would have grown up like any other kid and maybe, he would have even be afraid of Lord Voldemort, if Voldemort hadn't done the atrocious murder.


     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. Suppose, you get scolded by your teacher at school because of your clumsy work. Then every morning you would go to school believing that your teacher would definitely scold you no matter what you do and you would stop trying to impress her out of this misery. The result, you would be just as clumsy and the teacher will definitely scold you. This is a simple example of Self-fulfilling prophecy.

     Self-fulfilling prophecies have spanned all over history. The Demon Lord Kamsa, Lord Krishna's maternal uncle, was told a prophecy that he would be murdered by his sister's seventh son. Had he not paid heed to the prophecy and had he not been horrible towards his sister and her family, he wouldn't have met such an end. If he had showered love towards Krishna and been kind towards his sister, the prophecy wouldn't have had a meaning at all. 

     Similarly, in Greek mythology, King Laius, the divine hero of Thebes, left his son to the dead after being told that his son would kill him and marry his wife, Jocasta. His son, Oedipus, was rescued and brought up in another royal household of King Polybus at Corinth. When Oedipus learnt about the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his own mother, he thought that since Polybus was his father, he should leave Corinth so that he would not kill him. As fate would have its way, he came across King Laius. Not knowing that Laius was his real Father, Oedipus killed him in a fight and Jocasta, who was his mother.

     If King Laius did not leave his son and instead, raised him well, the prophecy would have never been fulfilled. But all the same, people always believe in things they are either strongly afraid of or have a deep insecurity about.

     It all comes down to what your mind wants to believe and what you are willing to stake. Your fears, complexes, insecurities, laziness and carelessness would result in such Self-fulfilling Prophecies, that you would indeed be forced to believe that you are carrying Bad-Luck. But, in fact, it is not Bad-Luck. It is just your hopelessness and lack of dedicated sincerity in the work you do.

     All is not lost if you fail. Try again for success - wholeheartedly and with complete effort on your part. If you don't succeed, people will at-least acknowledge how sincere your trials were and open innumerable opportunities for you.

    That way, you will Self Fulfill your Prophecy for Happiness and Luck in life. Bonne Chance to you!!!


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