Dan Arnautu

@Enizeo I'm glad it helped. This may help you even more if you decided on Plan A.

So, I am 2 years in my philosophy major and on some disciplines I am starting to not see the value of studying and writing papers about. I do like to study things like social and political philosophy, which really do bring my perspectives into a new light, but things like modern philosophy starting from Locke and going on to Hume, Kant, Hegel etc. and philosophy of language create knee jerk reactions in me and even though I read them, I feel that they don't bring me any value. They bring me just some nice fantasies of how people thought the world works in the past and I see how most of the problems they raise would be solved with a nondual approach. Their theoretical base seems shaky to me. I do not condemn them for thinking that way. They did the best they could in their time, but it's really hard for me to entertain or make myself read about them. Although, if I would write papers on these by bringing non duality to the table, my teachers would just think I am nuts, except one, who may entertain the idea. Writing papers becomes hard when you know about nonduality. My teachers are so caught in the rationalist trap that they dismiss nonduality entirely and see it as a dogma where some mystics do pseudo-science/pseudo-philosophy and have some funny experiences. Actually, I would dare say that my teachers are just running in circles trying to find truth when it's been there for thousands of years, hidding in the background, tainted by eastern cultural baggage. I would personally just drop the degree altogether but I am already 2 years in and I am doing some things on the side in the city where I'm at for my real career. Although, I have already failed some classes I don't like such as: -Medieval Philosophy -The origins of european philosophy (because of the teachers there) -Modern logic (highly technical, failed only the last exam, which was the hardest) QUESTION: How do I keep doing this soul draining kinda need-to-play-dogmatic paper work till I finish college? Any way I can make it easier on myself? It's just one more year, and I'm gonna specialize in moral philosophy in this third year, after which I'm gonna continue with my music career.

@Lorcan Sorry, I got your comment confused with another post

@Lorcan Imo you're better off joining Tai Lopez's Social Media marketing program if you have 1000$ to spare. Plus, it's much more fun than pennystock trading and it goes perfectly with the current state of the internet and the lifestyle you want to have. Marketing skills will play a big role in your music career. I say choose what yields the highest benefit for the least amount of cost. But you do whatever you want.

@Enizeo Good that you figured this out early enough. I am in a similar situation. Although, I already finished my formal music studies and am doing a philosophy degree in paralel with my music career. 1. If you follow Gary Vaynerchuk you know that going to college for marketing or sales is a waste of time and money. You could put 10x more things in your CV by just ”doing” for 3 years. Also, if you follow Valuetainment, you know that a lot of CEO's don't care in the least if you have a degree or not. They look directly at your portofolio to see what results you have generated up until then. 2. Mastering a new craft takes a lot of work and dedication. Expect working a 9-5 until you develop your musical skills enough (but don't get into the trap of starting to make music only after you master X musical skill) and also working to make the transition into a music career in the remaining hours of your day (which will mean no free time for you at all) - this is a little price to pay if you want to life on your own terms. If you aren't willing to ACTUALLY put in the work necessary, don't complain in the future about your situation. 3. Don't try to change your parents. Adapt to the situation. See what benefits your current situation presents. See if you can make them invest in music related stuff for you. 4. Staying in college (especially if your parents are paying for it) is a bad move if you aren't 100% sure of your decision. Also, once you get deep into that rabbit hole, it will be much harder to get out and switch careers. Also, keep in mind: once you become a musician, you become an entrepreneur. Your musical skill will be only 1/4 of what is needed to have a succesful music career. Plan A: Tell your parents that your want to do your own thing for X period of time, and that if it doesn't work out, you'll go back to college. (the best one in my opinion) Plan B: Continue with college and study music on the side. Do your thing after college if your parents are willing to let you stay with them while you get momentum. If not, Plan C: You get a 9-5, work on transitioning to music in your free time.

Good initiative. To figure out how you can earn 100k per year, you need to know how money works inside out. The best definition for money found until now is scarce in demand resources. So basically, you need to find something that you are better at or could be better at (if you have an innate talent at it) than the other 99% of people on the planet, but something that is also in demand. If you go by this rule no matter what, you won't have any problem with money. What it would look like applied to you I wouldn't know. Figure out what you are exceptional at (not ”good” at, exceptional) and see if there is a need not being met in the market related to that. Also, I would advise against everything related to corporate climbing. You won't have time or energy to fulfill your life purpose in a corporate environment. Whatever you bring to the table, it has to be exceptional if you want to earn big. If you don't have any hard skills (practical skills, not just theory, communication skills and things like that), you need to acquire one or nobody will take you seriously. Books will only take you so far. You need to master a craft. A hard skill may be something like marketing, sales, playing an instrument, painting, engineering etc.

-- Alan Watts (The Wisdom of Insecurity, p. 44)

Leo's new video answered all of my questions! I feel like it was shot specifically for me, haha! Thank you all for the input! Namaste!

So, for the past weeks I got a real perverse curiosity about spiritual topics and felt a deep need for understanding and wrapping my head around all the mind bending concepts that come with spirituality. So, what I did was I looked into different teachers, personalities in this field, looked into a lot of books, researched on different mystical traditions, experiences, concepts and so forth. What happened was that I got a little bit more understanding, but even 10x the confusion. It's like I don't know anything and I am overwhelmed by everything at the same time. So many paradoxes and s%#t. Now my normal mind transcended to metaphysical monkey mind, haha. The weird thing is that I feel drawn to all of this, even though all I get for now is spiritual beatup and slaps across the back of my neck. For me it's hard going on through my day without getting sucked into a spiritual video and 3 hours later still being caught up in leads from that video, researching. It's what I did everyday, all day for like the past 2 weeks and it's never ending. I think I'm really losing touch with reality at this point. How do you stay on top of your habits, schedule and so forth with all of this information? Even when I say it's enough and that I should just chill and watch a movie or a show for 30 minutes, the monkey mind shoots right up - ”No, that's low consciousness stuff. Don't do that.” It's mental masturbation non stop. I don't know what is ok or not ok for me to do in leisure time and things of the sorts. How do you guys balance your spiritual life with your day to day life? If I keep learning at this rate, my mind will be occupied with metaphysical monkey chatter all day, like it has been for the past week. Even when I'm going grocery shopping or going to the gym, it takes a while before I can stop inquiring neurotically and focus on the task at hand. One day I even forgot I had to go to the gym because of all the metaphysical chatter in my head. How slow of a pace should I have when learning about this stuff? I am currently in college and only have classes like 2 days per week. Still, I think I am going too fast even with all the free time. Thanks in advance. Sorry if it doesn't seem like a real problem to you. Maybe I'm just not seeing the situation in a proper way. Some objective advice will definitely help.

@Prabhaker Osho put it even better than me. This is what I was trying to get at. Wonderful excerpts. Thank you for the input!

@Shin Fair enough. Let's agree to disagree. I personally would not tell a hobo or someone living in a dangerous place (gangs and things like that) to do enlightenment work. Transcending the ego through intense suffering is one way to go about it, but I would not recommend it (the way Eckhart Tolle got enlightened).

@ShinThank you for answering. I do see your point. As I said, I do still meditate and practice mindfulness. I just don't do it 24/7. I would disagree. Everyone is at a different stage in their life. Some people don't have money to pay their mortgage. Some people live paycheck to paycheck. Some people are starting businesses and working 70-90 hours a week on that. Some people have problems with their families. Some are in poor health and need urgent care. Let's not forget SE is the most advanced stage of development work and the most emotionally laborious.

@aurum Aside from meditation and daily mindfulness, nope. I'm not ready for deep enlightenment work. I did not look that much into techniques for achieving enlightenment. I just wanted to build some kind of conceptual understanding of all of this, develop my big picture thinking more. As I said previously, I need to get more basic things handled in my life before I go on with this work. Becoming a Zen Devil won't serve me well either. I got a hang of that now. My intuition is telling me the second thing, but I don't know what normalcy is anymore, haha. Is it going out with friends? Playing video games? Going to concerts more as music is my ultimate career path? I don't know anymore. What do you think?

@Ayla Lower than reading a self-help book, working out, watching something educational, exercising etc. Also, I am a philosophy undergraduate, so it already kind of consumes me, haha. That was just mispelling on my part. Hard to express yourself on such nuanced topics without getting misunderstood. I meant how much time do you dedicate researching + doing spiritual work versus things like working on your career, exercising, reading about more basic self-help and implementing on those?

@Shin You got me wrong. I'm not pursuing enlightenment right now. I do have a meditation habit, but I've got way more basic things to handle before I can even fathom enlightenment work. I just wanted to understand it better and it maybe put me off-center for a bit. I'm not procrastinating on it either, don't get that mixed up.

@Dingus Yea, I thought about that too. If I would drop out I would need to go back home and start a guitar teaching business, which is no easy thing. I would be able to make a very good income 2-3 years from that point, but until then I would have to live with my parents, This is also the plan I wanted to implement after I finish college. But, in the 2 separate cases, my parents attitudes would be different. If I dropped out and started the business, they would watch me like a hawk, maybe give me negative talks about dropping out all day, and it's hard to run a business even without that. On the other hand, if I finish this degree, they would give me full lenience to do whatever the fuck I want, and maybe continue to invest in whatever I want to do. They just want the security that I have a degree to fall back on, which is a stupid thing, because I won't ever in my life come back to researching or stuff like that. I would rather clean tables somewhere.

@Leo Gura My higher self has been telling me that for the past year and a half. I just don't know how to convince my parents about that without damaging my relationship with them. I don't need it per se at all. My parents think I need it and had some discussions about dropping out but they did not want to hear about it (I had more than 3 discussion with each parent). They said that without a degree, no one is going to look at you and yada yada yada. Same old limiting beliefs. I told them that a philosophy degree won't help my music career or entrepreneurial endeavours. They argued against and so on. I got to a compromise with them. I do my best in college and they pay for my meetings with my music career mentor and my lessons with him (he is one of the best guitar coaches in Europe and the best in the country, also meaning he is pretty expensive) + they paid for a lot of my current equipment. I can't follow their logic. My sister also dropped out and that's why I think they have a knee jerk reaction towards this decision. I don't know how to make a decision that will benefit all parties involved. I don't know what to say to them so they agree I drop out. On the other end I figure it's just one more year. I don't know if I should go through with it or not.

@Leo Gura Thank you very much for answering, Leo. Playing the skeptic. Never thought about that. I could do some real damage I think then, haha. I'll try that. Unfortunately, I can't select my classes. They are the same for everyone. Except, in the third year you can choose between 3 specializations: Theoretical Philosophy, Moral-Political Philosophy or History of Philosophy/Cultural Philosophy, where you are still not able to choose your own classes. As for changing majors, I'll look into it and see if it is worth it. Do you think a philosophy major will help me out in some way in my music career? I also plan to teach and mentor (in music), but I'm still not on the other side of the fence and your point of view on this might be valuable to me.

@Flare I have no beef with philosophers in general, just some of them. I love reading Seneca, Plato, Mill etc. I may be focused on the wrong western philosophers but it's mandatory that I study them, and that's what I don't like. We are now getting into Schopenhauer, although we don't study Adorno, Hokheimer, Derrida (only in aesthetics we did). Also, we don't study the stoics anymore (we did in the first year). As for Eastern Philosophy, my teachers dismiss it entirely. It's not valuable information. It's not a ”trusted resource”. A teacher of mine claimed there is no such thing as eastern philosophy, which is sad coming from someone so intelligent. Basically, here I can't study what I want to study like in other countries where you select your own courses.

@AlwaysBeNice You will rarely find ”answers” in philosophy. Bertrand Russell argues in the book ”The Problems of Philosophy” (cap. The Value of Philosophy) that the value of philosophy rests in the questions themselves. Also,

@AlwaysBeNice It was extremely nice at first. At this I point I already got what I wanted from it and it was a good experiment in order to figure what paths would work for me or not. Being a researcher is not for me and neither am I able to sit all day thinking about complex theories with no real life implementation. I have a more pragmatic, entrepreneurial drive that is not satisfied in the library. When I'm on stage I feel in my element and I'm gonna trust that intuition. In the meanwhile, philosophy helped me open up my mind, develop my own opinions and see the limits of reason. I also got to work on my communications skills a lot. I think it will help me later in teaching, coaching and mentoring.

@Dingus Interesting. Thanks for the tip. I might ask him to read this post and give me some feedback if he is willing.

Note: The mentors don't don't need to be alive right now and it is not required that you have met them in person (although it is preferable). It is enough if you have studied their work extensively, read their books and made a big impact on your life even if you have not met them in person. That doesn't mean that you should post here about every author that you've ever read about or of which works you have studied( because every one of them helped us up in smaller or bigger amounts). Post only about the most important ones. These are the people that had the biggest impact on my life, in my development and that helped guide my path to where I am and to where I am going. In no particular order, these are: Life in General Leo Gura Showed me that creating an extraordinary life for myself is not an impossible task and that everything in life is not as it appears to be Tai Lopez Followed his programs and in spite of all the hate he gets, he started with nothing and now teaches others how to get where he is. Learned a lot from him about how to live a good life and how to adjust your life for hapiness, not for work or money. Seneca Showed me how to live a great life, how to get tranquility of mind and how to not waste my time on this earth. Andrzej Sapkowski Showed me what the highest hero's journey looks like and what it takes in order to go through it myself. Fitness Omar Isuf The guy that got me started on my fitness journey in highschool. A guy that I'm grateful I stumbled upon until today. Greg O'Gallagher (Kinobody) Showed me how to create an extraordinary physique (put on a ton of muscle, dropped a lot of bodyfat and gained confidence in myself and my abilities) Radu Antoniu (ThinkEatLift) Same as Greg Career and Business Tom Hess The top music career mentor and guitar coach in the world. Showed me how you can make a six figure income easily by teaching guitar part time and how to have a succesful and fulfilling music career. Corrado Sgandurra (a guitar coach who mentors and coaches professional musicians) My current in-person music career mentor and guitar teacher Mikael Akerfeldt My No. 1 music inspiration, guitarist, composer and vocalist that showed me what it takes to create great music, what great music actually looks like and how to have an impact on the world through music. Cal Newport Showed me how to have a fulfilling college experience, how to be succesful in college, how to create systems that automate success and how to have a great work ethic (a great foundation for later in life) Arnold Swarzenegger The prime example of a self made man that achieved the top spot in 3 different careers (bodybuilding, acting and politics). Read his autobiography and made me believe that I can achieve whatever I want if I am willing to put in the work and ignore the naysayers. Also there he listed all the traps that can be found on the path and shows you how to avoid them. Gary Vaynerchuk Showed me what is needed to cash in on my passion in a world where reaching eyeballs is of utmost importance. Tim Ferriss Showed me how to achieve success in anything by deconstructing what world top performers do. Robert Greene Showed me how to achieve mastery in any field and how talent = 0, how the world is not good or bad (that it's just a power game in which you can take control and win), how to disrupt the pattern and win the power game. Dating/Relationships/Love/Sexuality Coach Corey Wayne My go to for dating, love and relationships. Showed me how women actually think and how to relate to them. Spirituality Eckhart Tolle The first spiritual teacher I encountered on my path. Showed me for the first time what mindfulness and presence mean, showed me that the past and future are illusions, showed me how to quit worrying and how to treat the mind for what it really is, a tool, not something that should have control over me or of which I do not have control. Sadhguru An example of an enlightened being that is not ignorant of the other domains of life aside from spirituality. A man in the business of human wellbeing that showed me a more pragmatic side to spirituality. Andy Puddicombe (Headspace) The person that got me into meditation and mindfulness by following his programs (I still follow them). Got me to relate to my thoughts and emotions in an entirely different way.

@Barna Thank you very much. I've already watched some of Matt's other videos. Good stuff.