The POWER of Positive Thinking!!!

     Last night, I watched a documentary about quantum physics called, "What the Bleep do we Know!?" It was really interesting and proposed the idea that we aren't just observers in this world, but that our minds can actually shape the reality we live in. I couldn't help but think about this documentary while reading Oscar Wao. We talked briefly last class about how the Dominican's strong beliefs could be what manifests their destinies. I believe it is Oscar’s constant negativity and his belief in the fúkú that create most of his problems. Yunior says on page 171; "Dude used to say he was cursed, used to say this a lot." The documentary discussed how the energy we put forth into the world reflects the energy we will receive from it. Oscar is constantly pouring negative energy into believing that the fúkú affects him, blaming everything on it; "It was the curse that made me do it, you know" (194). If Oscar could only change the way he thought, he might be able to affect his life in a more positive way. Granted it's not easy to change the way you think, it is easy to become addicted (so to speak) to negativity.

     We can see how negativity attracts more negativity through Oscar's negative belief in the fúkú and himself, but the text also shows how positivity attracts positivity. We see this idea in the scene of La Inca's prayer circle for Béli. At first, after Béli is kidnapped, La Inca, "almost succumbed ... beyond the bright reed of her faith and into the dark reaches" (144). La Inca almost allows her thoughts to be negative, but she "remembered who she was" (144) and chose to do something positive with her thoughts: she decided to pray for Béli. The faith, hope, and positivity of the prayer circle is so strong, "that it was rumored ... the Devil himself had to avoid the Sur for months afterward" (145).Not only did this large mass of positivity attribute to Béli's survival, it actually kept negativity, or "the Devil himself" out of the town for months afterwards. By praying or believing so strongly in Béli's survival, the group was able to affect the outcome. The positivity emanating from their minds actively shaped what reality became.