Do not play the lottery

The motivation

We all know lotteries: Pay a little, and have a (very small) chance of winning lots. Now what are you playing the lottery for? Is it the thrill? Is it the money? Is it that you also automatically give to charities (that the lottery advertises with) when you play? Truly ask your self, what is your motivation? It has to do with money, as no lottery would exist without it, and lots of other things in life have more 'thrill value' then playing the lottery. So you motivation must have to do with money. Next thing is, what is happening, or going to happen, with the money that is in your motivation? Will you donate it (all) to some good cause? Will you keep it for yourself? Will you spent all the money on health care for some one else its illness? Pick out the motivations that are good, and pick out the motivation that are related to selfishness. Make your picks. To which of the two is your motivation more related? My guess is that you would like to have the money so you can pay all your bills, never work again and even buy the things you otherwise never could have bought, just for fun, like a sports car or whatever. If this is true then you should really read to the end of the article.

So whats wrong?

In short: your motivation is wrong. Read on to found out the why. So what is wrong with playing the lottery to win a lot of money? Inside that motivation lies expectations. The expectation that lots of money will make your life more pleasant. And that expectation, of money making your life more pleasant, stays as long as you play. How subtle, far away or unimportant that expectation may seem, it is there, as long as you play. Therefore playing the lottery automatically each month is worse than buy a lot just once.

What is wrong with that expectation?

"Your life will become more pleasant when you have lots of money"? True or false? If you feel that this is true, but you wisely say false, you are fooling yourself. If you think or feel that this is true, then please read on.
By having the expectation, that money will make your life more pleasant, you instantly have a mental blockage to a higher level of happiness. Lets suppose there is an ultimate level of happiness, just for this example. Then how would you ever reach that level of ultimate happiness if you think that there is something out there than can still make you more happy? You can't logically be 100% happy if there is that thing (a lottery in this example) that you expect to make you more happy. You see? It is plain logic. All that is required to make you as happy as possible lies within your own mental power, right now, at this very moment. Now of course there are things that you may expect to make you more happy, and of course you may have a desire for that to become reality. That is not the point. The point is the out there aspect in one of the the previous sentences. It implies that there is an external factor that can make you happy, while the truth is that, all that is required for happiness lies within.

Make your pick

You have a choice, belief that the money will make you more happy then you are now, or belief that all that is required to make you more happy right now lies within your own mental power... Which one do you choose? Contemplate about what makes you truly happy in life, what is really important. The things that matter aren't just important to you, they just are. You do not get to decide whether good health (mentally and physically) makes you happy or not, they just do, for everybody. Don't you agree? Then imagine the opposite is the case...  The wiser pick will sure lead you to more and more happiness as you go. Will you still play the lottery with the motivation and expectation that money will make your life more pleasant... ?

Why the under developed intellect doesn't value emotion so much

Balance is what matters. Without balance, systems function less or are even destroyed, as they can no longer continue to exist.
People (those animals from the human race) do not function exactly what you could call balanced. People are often in conflict with each other, which is logical, when people are very often in conflict with their selves: doing things too much is a result of this. Too much drinking, smoking, eating or even too much sports all brings damage to body. You can only truly care about another, if you do truly care about yourself. Bringing damage upon your self is the greatest indicator that you are out of balance.

Now, how does all this blatter about balance relate to the intellect that doesn't value emotion so much? Good question! If you do not know the answer yet, keep reading.

The unbalanced state people can find their selves in (including me) has many degrees. And what these people have in common is that their right and left brain hemisphere having trouble communicating. So you and I already have something in common now: we should use our corpus callosum more. What is often the main cause at work, or at home, when there are conflicts, and people argue? Exactly, communication... It always comes done to a suboptimal level of communication causing the trouble. (Note: Ego plays a part here as well, but ego is a result of suboptimal communication of a being within, you will see when you read to the end of this article.).

Finally, the intellect enters the stage! Big applause people!, As mr. Know-It-All (or give me a moment and I look it up for you) comes up!

We narrow our view to the intellectual people now, that is ~49.5% of humanity, leaving ~50.5% of the people on the globe out of this discussion.

People who mainly use their intellect to navigate their life do not value emotion so much. They see it as a byproduct or so, something that functioned during the stone ages when you had to flee or fight. But as fleeing or fighting isn't day-to-day business anymore, they think they do not need it so much. What I am saying is that the intellect will probably come up with lots of theories why emotion is less valuable than intellect. You can't describe quantum physics with emotion now, do you? Wow, that statement felt good! Didn't it Mr. Know-It-All?

WARNING: Unpleasent feelings may arise while reading the following!

Intellects, you have been warned. Lets crack that shell of yours. Physics isn't all there is. Emotionally focused people would agree on that right away! Physics doesn't matter at all, in their view. Don't get too excited, we will address you I-feel-what-is-important-in-live people in some future article.

For those intellects that are mildly in shock but still capable of learning, keep reading.

Emotions, or feelings, are indicators of how well you are doing. If you feel down, its the job for intellect to make up a plan to make your self feel better. This isn't as arbitrary as it may seem, as this is exactly the process by which a sentient consciousness intelligence (you, for example) grows up. Emotion can't rationalize what has to be done, leave that to the intellect. Rationalizing whether you are down, isn't an easy job as well, and takes a lot of time; What factors would you need to consider in the first place? Just questioning yourself of how you feel is a lot easier, so leave that up to the right brain hemisphere (emotion). Maybe there isn't something wrong at all, an intellect may think. And he may be correct, if he only considers the external environment. Here comes the nuances: If externally there isn't something wrong, it is not a justification to simply ignore the feeling and go on. If externally everything seems just fine, the cause of feeling down originates internally (probably fear). And in order to feel good again, it must be investigated, thats how you grow. Simply going on and focusing on the external world doesn't solve the issue that arises internally.

Finally, we get to the main question of this article.

Intellects love to think they know it all. If they would use their emotion, the way it is designed to be used, they may have to face a situation similar to this: "Hey I'm feeling anxious, something is wrong... Let me think about it... Hmmm... I don't know (yet)..." and they MUST accept that they in fact don't know it all. If they would, they would feel instantly happy again, and that ain't the case in 99.99% of the cases. They can't question a faculty for science to rationalize what the origins of those feelings are... As it may be a very personal conflict (internal world) that is causing the anxiousness. That uncertainty, of not knowing, frightens the intellect. If the intellect would accept it doesn't know it all, getting of the throne of superiority, it has to share its formerly 1st place with emotion, as it can no longer consider itself superior as it doesn't know it all. Neither emotion, nor intellect is superior over the other.

The intellect can only see to see the value of emotion, if the intellect itself is developed enough to come to this conclusion. If the intellect doesn't see it this way, it is underdeveloped still. You can only harness the synergy, that the the sum of the left+right brain hemisphere has to offer, if you use them both. Let them both guide you through your life by appreciating and acknowledging their existence, by seeing them as bringing equal value to your life.