--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Meredith And Kenny <meredithandkenny@...> wrote: What if we might desire to dispute this theory instead? I think it should be either to prove or disprove.
I sure wish you hadn't said that. You have opened up a can of worms, we may never put the lid on again. And it's going to require me to share something far from my normal comedic banter, and something I really didn't want to ever again talk about or think about. It was such a disturbing experience, I had forgotten about it, and blocked it from my mind until I read your reply.
THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE FUNNY, AND IS 100% TRUE. THIS TOPIC CAN BE A VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FOR SOME PEOPLE.
The belief that "everything happens for a reason" is a primary grief mechanism for humans after tragedy. Removing it can cause severe depression and even suicide. Psychologists never challenge this belief in depressed patients without first putting into place other psychological defense mechanisms to replace it.
I was unaware of that when I wrote the first draft of my book. Since I did not grow up with these beliefs, I had no way of knowing how their removal could effect the psyche. Here's what happened:
One of my test readers who didn't believe in randomness attempted suicide after getting halfway through the original chapter 2 of my book. After her recovery she told me that she could not continue reading my book because she was afraid that I was right and, if so, there was no point to her life. She stated to me in no uncertain terms that it was reading my description of randomness that prompted her to attempt suicide.
As you can imagine, this isn't the sort of thing I want as publicity, even if my only crime was explaining something really well. I hope you appreciate that stating it here could cost me sales. Even though I haven't taken the Hippocratic oath, I live by it.
After this experience I took 2 years away from writing to study relevant aspects of psychology, then rewrote chapter 2 to make it less confrontational. This substantial delay is one of the reasons it took me nine years to finish my book.
The test reader who had this issue was also an addicted non-professional gambler. Those types of people do not normally buy and read books on gambling. It was only because I hired her as a paid test reader that this situation arose. I did not expect to find people with even slightly similar beliefs here, since I thought vpFREE was exclusively for advantage players.
The doubt you have placed in my mind that someone similar might be on vpFREE has necessitated that I cancel the contest and strongly discourage any further discussion that could potentially be harmful to people. This sort of thing is best left to certified psychologists.
I'm sorry I brought it up. It is frustrating to know something so completely and have people disagree with you. But this has ceased to be about proving who is right and who is wrong, but is now about doing no harm.
I cannot in good conscience continue posting in this thread, and I encourage no one else to as well. Let's just let sleeping dogs lie.
Think of it like this - if a belief is responsible for making someone happy and getting them through their day, does it really matter if it's true or not? It's effect on them is good, and that's enough.
Most sincerely,
Frank Kneeland
