How do I convince my parents?

[Madhur]

I am from india, And I have just started my university study, I thought I would like the course I am taking but it happened other way around. My interest towards it becomes 0. but good thing is that I've found my purpose during this 6 months, and I want to pursue it but I am afraid that if my parents would allow me to switch it, I am from middle class family and my parents already spent quite a lot amount to get me an admission. So how do I convince my parents ?

[Elisabeth]

I am not sure about Indian culture. 

I'd be direct. Tell them you lost interest and don't want to finish this school. It's better to switch now then drop out a year later with no degree. If your LP is not too crazy, that might be enough. 

If money is a problem, you could get a job now and pay them for the second admission fee. This will probably just add to your determination to make your LP work later. 

Lastly, remember, it would be nice if your parents could pay for your studies, but you don't necessarily need their permission. You are an adult, if you can pay your own way, you can just switch fields despite parental disagreement. You could get off your ass and go study to the other side of the world and not ask them for any permission evermore. If you have a strong LP you probably will have to do stuff your parents don't agree with later in life anyway, so get used to the idea. 

[exhale]

Is your life purpose well thought out, strategic and logical?

 

[Leo Gura]

What was your old thing and what is your new thing?

[Madhur]

@Leo Gura @exhale @Elisabethhonestly speaking..I am from a sort of conservative indian background and I have always been interested in philosophy but I was didn't really properly introduced to it, because no ones around me ever talked about it and I didn't even know that you can study philosophy as a part of your academics, Because what people around me think that there is no career apart from being an engineer or a doctor. But as I started getting into this world, watching Leo's video, reading books and discovering mind blowing things everyday I feel that how less amount of people know about these things and how it is so important to be aware about. So I decided that this what I wanna do. I want to study philosophy and make people aware about everything at much deeper level. I am studying computer science right now and I want to change it to philosophy. And as far as my financial condition goes, they can arrange the money so money wouldn't be a problem, but As every parents they want me to have a secure future, And they have already done so much for me and wasting money of them will probably make me feel guilty but on the other side I don't want to become an engineer I want to study philosophy and do what leo is doing right now.....

[exhale]

I am not saying to forgo your parent's financial support during this endeavor, because this is a blessing.  But, the strings attached to it do complicate and perhaps compromise your judgement and decision making.

There are careers in traditional philosophy, in that you could teach philosophy at a university. 

As far as carving our a career in what I would call e-philosophy: this is the Wild West my friend.  It is the equivalent to saying I want to be a rock star.  Certainly, there are many people that are rock stars, someone does have to be the rockstar--so why not you?.  Though, it takes more than just hard work to make it happen, intangible things.  You need to have charisma, you need to be credible, you need to have valuable and novel content, timing is a factor (by the time you study enough to have these aforementioned criteria, the platforms for e-philosophy may have all drastically changed). 

Ultimately, it is your life.  I am 100% on board with embracing passions and following your life purpose, but you need to recognize that you would be leaving a "sure thing for financial safety" to something that has "zero financial safety".  I hesitate to fully support this type of mindset, it is like a high school career counsellor telling the kid that wants to be a rock star: "forget about school, focus 100% on being a rockstar".  In reality, some kids will become rockstars, but many become depressed individuals with alcohol and substance abuse problems, with no solid education or training program to support themselves.  

Given you offered that you want to do what Leo is doing.  Consider that Leo's path took him down a "somewhat" traditional training program and career.  This was part of his journey and I suspect shaped a lot of his character qualities, not to mention gave him some financial stability in his earlier years.  I believe he has said that he did lots of learning/studying in his time after his 40-h job.  I suspect he would not have been able to financially support himself without this early traditional training. If you love it so much, consider balancing your current education with self-philosophy study. 

This choice will be one of the defining decisions of your life.  Be strategic and be careful.  Balance the ideologic aspirations with prudence.

[remember]

@Madhur it’s clearly a super difficult decision - especially if you want to study something with the scope of learning alone, not thinking about what you then could be with it. just because of the fascination of it alone. in india you have a huge amount of people going into computer science and it’s probably even there difficult because you have kind of a bigger competition, especially with guys who are fascinated in it very deeply. but philosophy alone is also difficult look how many philosophers are around everywhere who now do something else. what is really important if you really want to change is having a clear plan on how you will actually make a business and money with it - you need a certain amount of creativity and vision - not sure if you would learn that alone from philosophy. it of course makes sense to a point to go for something more practical than theoretical. leo had the goal to go into gaming, not what he does now - but the more practical part got him where he’s now. it’s difficult to clone it. 

one tip though is, if philosophy - go for the most special philosophy school and teacher in india, i also mean the one that fascinates you the most, if there is one. don’t do it half, just learning, but find some place challenging. you could probably also learn a lot from people like sadhguru. so the question is how would you secure to become a person who is needed, and that with authenticity? so it’s a really difficult decision. how many philosophy classes did you already attend?

Edited January 18, 2020 by remember

[Leo Gura]

Once you know that your heart is not into a thing, that is the end of that. There is no use pretending you can make it work.

If your heart is not into engineering you will never succeed at it. So that's not even an option for you.

Just accept it and move on with pursuing what your heart is calling you to do. Deal with the obstacles and problems as they arise. If your parents refuse to help you in following your heart, then follow it anyway without their help.

Don't let following your heart be negotiable. You can't succeed at something your heart isn't into.

[Elisabeth]

 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, remember said:

@Madhurhow many philosophy classes did you already attend?

This is an important question. You should do some real-life test before enrolling for a study program. I have no idea what philosophy programs look like in India - and neither do you, unless you did your research - but I know Leo's material is very different from what is studied in university over here. They'd make you study formal logic, read various authors, write about their work etc., all very different from listening to videos. At the very least you should attend a class if publicly available, actually read some philosophy books, and generally know what the study program looks like.

[Nahm]

On 1/18/2020 at 7:15 AM, Madhur said:

wasting money of them will probably make me feel guilty but on the other side I don't want to become an engineer I want to study philosophy

Take a step back, behind the perspective. Notice you are employing / creating / believing that duality. I don’t believe it. In the personal sense, I do not believe that duality. You don’t have to either. Once you don’t - no problem, no guilt is possible, because you realize you were creating it / imposing it / believing it. If you want to help people self realize, best not be the bringer of dualities & guilt. There are no ‘sides’ to take. This plays out only in the belief that there is a duality. Which there isn’t.   (Not to imply you were supposed to know this, but this is when you realize how sneaky thought is / how important perspective is)