Originally Posted by DoloresHaze

me neither but it's nice to have one. Maybe I won't be happy biut i'll have a mercedes benz. Lol, that sounds so shallow.

I do realize those things don't bring happiness but they do make life a little bit brighter and more enjoyable I guess. It's nice to have nice things like a good car and nice clothes, nice food and the relief it is to know that you don't have money troubles. I would like that.

Originally Posted by Sophia_

Higher education is a quest. We gain many tangible and intangible benefits from this type of personal challenge. Uni is a structured quest with guidelines established by educated and honored members of culture. Like a trip around the world, one should choose wisely and be open to the auxillary effects that follow one's venture. These are the bonuses that can never be planned, but are sure to accompany any goal achievement. Even failure has these effects; for failure itself may be the greater teacher.

I failed in my plans in college, and thank fate for the changes which ensued. I started out studying computer science, with great plans of being a computer analyst. This was my aunt's dream for me. My true dream was to study to become an architect. My favored plans were derailed by a counselor who was working in the best interests of the University who was paying for me to attend the college. I'll skip these details for now because it would sidetrack the point I'm making. I realized the University was more interested in the function of profit-making than any personal goals that I might have had.

This lead me to being in a program that left me short of the passion I would need to compete with other engineering students. I floundered for 3 1/2 years in a major I knew I would never work in outside of school. What I gained on this path was far more than I would have expected; I gained insight into the workings of the world. Sure, I could have become a millionaire working in Silicon Valley, as many of my close friends expected of me, but instead I have served those success story millionaires of Silicon Valley as a handyman/artist/craftsman, and control my own time and my own life. I live life on my own terms; something very few can say.

I've worked for professors and engineers and executives and counsellors. Never have I regretted taking a side-trip on the North Face of life. Their paths are admirable, but my path has been inspiring. Many have told me that they envy my passion and skill; many have dreamed of dropping out of mainstream and becoming an artist and living in the mountains, which is the core of my life. One senior manager at Apple Computer Corp told me he wished he had the skill I have. His wife was a famous artist and he wished he could build beautiful woodworks and be self employed. On that job I had the personal pleasure of meeting a young psychology graduate whose direction in life changed immediately by the insight I shared with him. I've shared of myself my whole life and only a few times have I witnessed the effects new insight can have on another individual. This young man "got it"; the senior engineer didn't.

Many times success has the power to keep one sailing on a chosen path in life; the maverick is the one who is willing to adapt to the changing tides and the tear-wrenching disappointments, challenging the stormy seas of life to give up their dead corpses.

"Discipline can't teach one to imagine; one must do that outside of academia and convention, while traveling the narrower craggy path"
~~carefulcarpener

Originally Posted by Ophiel

I'm currently trying to explain to my parents that moving out is worth the extra "expense" of having to pay more rent and such. In purely financial terms, it's never going to be worth moving out when I can stay at home and live at their expense, but I know that's not what either of us want. The difference is, I want it within the forseeable future.

As you do seem to understand, money is great, but it's not everything. So the luxury of a "respectable" car and job and whatever else is all well and good, but if you're not happy, they won't make you happy. If anything it'd probably frustrate you more to have all these luxuries, because you wouldn't have the crutch of being able to think "I'd be happy if I had [insert luxury item]" - you'd have no tangible reason not to be happy.

People can be happy in poverty. It's to do with being grateful for what you've got, rather than depressed about what you haven't. You don't have to be poor and living in a slum to be grateful either, though. You seem to have gotten yourself into a rut of focusing on the aspects of your life that you don't like. Relative to some here, you're actually doing quite well; you've got a job in the field you actually want to work in! That's more than I can say. Not trying to make you feel guilty, just saying, learn to enjoy what you achieve.

Originally Posted by Ophiel

So basically, the fact that higher education didn't work out for you gives you the right to esoterically slur anyone for whom it did?

Originally Posted by Sophia_

About 20 years after college I ran into a guy who worked for a major defense contractor since college. We had both been in engineering; he was in the honors program. I didn't know him, but since I played football on the college team, he knew of me. As we got to know each other, and socialized a few times with our wives, he shared some insight about "higher education working out for people". What he told me was that I was much smarter than the rest of our class. This made no sense to me at the time. An author, Robert Pirsig, made some esoteric points in two of his books that helped me to understand what this guy was telling me.

My current customer also worked for the same defense contractor and he has enlightened me also. There is a big difference between credentials and intelligence; these men have explained to me how it works in the big leagues. Since I've worked for many engineers over the years, I've heard many things that support my decision not to pursue my first choice in college majors. It's wise to accept that others are much more dedicated to a one-dimensional dream than you may be.


"Adaptation: the ability to anticipate the future and ride the wave of evolution rather than bob up and down chained to an anchor"