Sort of, there's this -
Zengrifter on Luck -
(excerpted from ZGI page-32)
Many times you’ve told me about your ‘New Age’ philosophy. Are there any ways in which
these beliefs have helped you at the blackjack tables?
Well, I once went through a phase where I only played blackjack at pre-determined times
throughout the day that had been calculated by a nationally ranked astrologer, but my results were
inconclusive.
Seriously though my beliefs, which I occasionally use as cover, it never impairs the accuracy of my
counting or bet sizing. I do, however, embrace a Buddhist-like paradigm of ‘universal mind’ by
recognizing that all manifestation is consciousness. I prefer to call it ‘higher consciousness’ or
‘quantum reality’ and my leanings toward a more Eastern philosophical awareness stem from over
300 LSD trips, and from studies I’ve undertaken for over 30 years including Zen, Taoism and the
teachings of the Ruchira Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti and Sri Poonjaji,
among others.
Beyond the intuition factor discussed earlier, we get into some heady stuff that re-acquaints us with
the gamblers’ penchant for the so-called ‘superstitious.’
Some readers who have studied quantum-physics will recall the hypothesis of “Dr. Schrödinger’s
Cat.” Schrödinger posited that a cat placed into an electrically wired black box which, in turn, was
randomly electrified - only sometimes with enough juice to kill the cat, with the random charges
unknown to the observing experimenter - would result in neither a dead nor a living cat until the
box is opened and the animal’s state observed.
Along similar lines, the next card dealt from the shoe is not pre-determined, at least not in
‘quantum-reality.’ Thus a gambler’s beliefs may very well indeed affect his results.
I once employed my friend and best-selling ‘higher-consciousness’ author Marilyn Ferguson (The
Aquarian Conspiracy, Brain-Mind Bulletin) to channel the late Kenny Uston.
Marilyn channels many “gone-yonders,” as she refers to them, including Joseph Kennedy, John
Rockefeller, Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary, and even ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ whom she
endearingly calls “the J of N.” Her son is a semi-pro poker player, so at his urgings she has even
channeled the late poker legend Johnny Moss.
During the channeling session, Kenny stated that since the time of his “last incarnation,” he has
become “increasingly convinced” of the “connection between state and luck.” Such connection
between ‘state’ and ‘luck’ has been suggested by many mystical and scientific types, alike. This
suggests that a gambler may actually be able to ‘invoke’ a ‘lucky-state’ through meditation, prayer,
self-hypnosis or even neuro-linguistic-programming, perhaps. I don’t know, but I’ll ask my friend
Tony Robbins the next time I see him.
Do you have any concrete results that would justify these concepts?
My results are totally inconclusive, statistically speaking, although chanting Buddhist good-luck
mantras at the blackjack table is certainly good for cover! One of my biggest wins was at the old
Reserve in Henderson while loudly chanting ‘Nam-Myo-Ho-Renge-Kyo.’ Afterwards, a teammate
stepped within earshot of the pit-critters who had been in attendance and overheard them
discussing, “What do you think he was chanting?” to which the other replied, “He was probably
putting a curse on us.”
Does this ‘quantum-reality’ stuff bother your teammates?
A few years ago I was playing in Reno, and there were five of us having a team meeting and I
suggested that perhaps we should all try playing sessions timed according to our daily bio-rhythms
and/or astrological charts. They all got angry and told me to “stop scaring” them! After a bathroom
break I returned to the meeting and challenged them: “Is there anyone here that is totally without
superstition?” In the next moment, one pulled out his rabbit-foot key chain, another produced his
lucky coin, a third had just splashed on his lucky aftershave. A fourth teammate showed his rosary
beads.
As it turned out, I was the only one in the group who wasn’t carrying a ‘talisman’ into play that
night.
Do you really believe in this ‘cosmic consciousness’ stuff?
Oh yes! Fundamentally, the seemingly ‘separate’ and ‘external’ universe is a holographic illusion,
not truly composed of inanimate rocks and matter, but is rather a ‘paradigmatic-realm’ of
unbounded mind and consciousness wherein all things and events are interconnected in infinite
possibility through the eternal here-and-now via the engine of third-dimensional creation: one’s
own cerebral cortex!
By the way, I’ve considered using an expert with a dousing rod to walk the aisles of the BJ pit to
select my table - a potentially great cover ploy... and it just might work!
You are one strange dude, Zengrifter!
Yes, I know, everyone tells me that.
---end of excerpt---
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