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Doing something with your life

I think that many people are mistaking GPA for something meaningful.
That is just an external sign of what society believes your efforts (or inherent abilities) are worth.
It has little to do with the real value of a human being, in my opinion.

Do you spend your energy exploring nature, knowledge, books, music, art, and your own self?
Do you get more open every day, or more closed?
Are you fulfilling your highest potential as a human being?
Your highest potential has very little to do with your GPA, or your academic achievements, or your job.
To know what your highest potential is, you need to look deeply into your heart. It has to do with being true to your deepest self, and having self-esteem.
It is also frequently changing, so you can't just rest and wait once you think you have found it or achieved it.
I think that some people can smoke pot and work toward their highest potential, but only with self-control and moderation in use.
Potheads can not achieve their highest potential, I believe, because they have given up control over their own will to the herb.
 
swilow said:
Depends what you mean by "something" really. I've probably wasted a few oppurtunites via smoking/drugs-in-general, but how could I have lost something I've never had? I feel I've gained a lot more in regards to what life may really be.

I don't think intelligence has much to do with anything really; its more whether one has an acuity for something, as you may with computers.

Real life is even very real, so why worry? :D
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you're a wise man swillow<3
 
slimvictor said:
I think that many people are mistaking GPA for something meaningful.
That is just an external sign of what society believes your efforts (or inherent abilities) are worth.
It has little to do with the real value of a human being, in my opinion.

Do you spend your energy exploring nature, knowledge, books, music, art, and your own self?
Do you get more open every day, or more closed?
Are you fulfilling your highest potential as a human being?
Your highest potential has very little to do with your GPA, or your academic achievements, or your job.
To know what your highest potential is, you need to look deeply into your heart. It has to do with being true to your deepest self, and having self-esteem.
It is also frequently changing, so you can't just rest and wait once you think you have found it or achieved it.
I think that some people can smoke pot and work toward their highest potential, but only with self-control and moderation in use.
Potheads can not achieve their highest potential, I believe, because they have given up control over their own will to the herb.
Click to expand...


w0rd!
 
slimvictor said:
I think that many people are mistaking GPA for something meaningful.
That is just an external sign of what society believes your efforts (or inherent abilities) are worth.
It has little to do with the real value of a human being, in my opinion.

Do you spend your energy exploring nature, knowledge, books, music, art, and your own self?
Do you get more open every day, or more closed?
Are you fulfilling your highest potential as a human being?
Your highest potential has very little to do with your GPA, or your academic achievements, or your job.
To know what your highest potential is, you need to look deeply into your heart. It has to do with being true to your deepest self, and having self-esteem.
It is also frequently changing, so you can't just rest and wait once you think you have found it or achieved it.
I think that some people can smoke pot and work toward their highest potential, but only with self-control and moderation in use.
Potheads can not achieve their highest potential, I believe, because they have given up control over their own will to the herb.
Click to expand...
I agree. I really like this quote. :)
 
I started smoking a few months after starting college, was going for a BA in Real Time Interactive Simulation (video game programming). During my entire K-12 schooling I had always had a really hard time with math - I mean, I could get the grades by memorizing the shit and did OK - but I had hard time grasping the overall concepts. At college I was presented with heavy math (for me), used in 3D graphics engines and such. I was having a really hard time of it, because it was too much to really memorize...you had to KNOW this shit.

I remember one very distinct moment I was so frustrated with my homework...so I just got high instead of doing it....really high. At some point in that high something seriously 'clicked' and I flew back to the keyboard and banged out the assignment, just so ecstatic that I had finally 'got it'. Something about the slow moving thought patterns and removal of frustration truly gave me some insight into the problem I was having.

After that I thought weed was my miracle 'focus' drug, I'd get high and do my shit all the time, and did ok with a GPA around 3.0. After a year or so of solid smoking though, I began to realize that I HAD to be high to find my school work interesting at all. Something I don't consider an overall plus. But it also helped me realize that maybe I didn't want to program video games for a living either, and I dropped out halfway through the program.

After that I got job at a label factory for a year and studied up on web development in my free time. Told my label boss to fuck off (literally - long boring story - but felt SO good) and got a job with a small startup company doing all sorts of random web shit. I learned a TON there, and a year and a half later jumped ship to go freelance on my own. I have been on my own since the beginning of this year, stayin afloat, and all the while smoking pot heavily.

I am actually weening myself off of it though, as I don't find it as inspiring and insightful as I once did. I kind of got into the 'smoke it till its gone' mentality, and was burning thru an 8th every day or two. All in all though, I do feel that it helped me a lot though, and have never regretted taking that first toke :)
 
I think that many people are mistaking GPA for something meaningful.
That is just an external sign of what society believes your efforts (or inherent abilities) are worth.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, a lot of society DOES believe that GPA, test scores, degrees in education and etc. are what people should be measured by.

At the same time, I take pride in keeping my GPA high. It's by far not my entire life. It doesn't encompass all of my aspirations. But it's a goal I have: to be a good student. It IS meaningful, it means you work hard, and are able to maintain a certain academic standard with yourself.
 
^ But GPA is not valid evidence that someone is making something of their life.
Some people get a horrible GPA, though they are smart and maybe even working hard.
Some people get a great GPA, though they are addicted to marijuana (for example), and really not making something of their life.

GPA might mean something to you, and might make you work hard, and that's fine. But it hardly suffices to show that you are fulfilling your highest potential, or anything close.

In fact, to me, you would be a lot closer to fulfilling your highest potential if you worked hard for other reasons - like love of knowledge, love of learning, an effort to fulfill your responsibilities to those paying for you to go to school (even if it is yourself), passion about the material you are studying, etc. To me, those are the best reasons to work hard. To get some grade point average is not a very good reason (though I must admit that it was one of my reasons at various times during my schooling).

I have been teaching in universities for 10 years. This is what I have observed.
Some students audit classes because they simply want to learn. They don't take the tests, but they show up in every class, listening intently. These are some of my favorite students.
Some take classes for grades, but they work their butts off because they clearly love the material. They listen intently in class, and get good grades, and they are some of my favorite students, too.
Some listen in class, do all the work, but do miserably on tests. They are just bad test-takers, or have bad memories. They are interested in the material, but they cannot imitate the teacher with enough precision to get a good grade. These are some of my favorite students, too, and I will go out of my way to help them after class.
Some have their parents pay for their school, sleep in class, and then complain when they get a C on a test that they barely studied for. They make me sick. They might kick it up one notch, and get Bs and some As, but they have no passion, no devotion, and no interest in learning. Their minds are half-closed, and their lives are being wasted. They might cheat on tests and homework, and get a pretty decent GPA, but it shows nothing about their qualities as a human being.

Don't be fooled by GPA (or IQ, or any other false measure of the vast capacity of human beings).
Life is about living wholeheartedly, passionately, not about jumping through hoops or having the "right" kind of cognitive processing.
 
slimvictor said:
^ But GPA is not valid evidence that someone is making something of their life.
Some people get a horrible GPA, though they are smart and maybe even working hard.
Some people get a great GPA, though they are addicted to marijuana (for example), and really not making something of their life.

GPA might mean something to you, and might make you work hard, and that's fine. But it hardly suffices to show that you are fulfilling your highest potential, or anything close.

In fact, to me, you would be a lot closer to fulfilling your highest potential if you worked hard for other reasons - like love of knowledge, love of learning, an effort to fulfill your responsibilities to those paying for you to go to school (even if it is yourself), passion about the material you are studying, etc. To me, those are the best reasons to work hard. To get some grade point average is not a very good reason (though I must admit that it was one of my reasons at various times during my schooling).

I have been teaching in universities for 10 years. This is what I have observed.
Some students audit classes because they simply want to learn. They don't take the tests, but they show up in every class, listening intently. These are some of my favorite students.
Some take classes for grades, but they work their butts off because they clearly love the material. They listen intently in class, and get good grades, and they are some of my favorite students, too.
Some listen in class, do all the work, but do miserably on tests. They are just bad test-takers, or have bad memories. They are interested in the material, but they cannot imitate the teacher with enough precision to get a good grade. These are some of my favorite students, too, and I will go out of my way to help them after class.
Some have their parents pay for their school, sleep in class, and then complain when they get a C on a test that they barely studied for. They make me sick. They might kick it up one notch, and get Bs and some As, but they have no passion, no devotion, and no interest in learning. Their minds are half-closed, and their lives are being wasted. They might cheat on tests and homework, and get a pretty decent GPA, but it shows nothing about their qualities as a human being.

Don't be fooled by GPA (or IQ, or any other false measure of the vast capacity of human beings).
Life is about living wholeheartedly, passionately, not about jumping through hoops or having the "right" kind of cognitive processing.
Click to expand...

The only reason I pay attention to GPA now is so that I can learn for the fun of it later. The school I go to ATM doesn't have enough well-designed classes, enough good teachers, or a flexible enough curriculum for me to have fun learning (which I do very much under circumstances where I can).

I agree wholeheartedly with your ideas, I just think they're mighty idealistic. Many people don't have a choice to have fun while learning. For me, I'm either bored or stifled by the work we do half the time. It's a small price to pay though, if I can get into a better school by keeping my GPA, test scores, and etc. up.
 
Moonmixer said:
The only reason I pay attention to GPA now is so that I can learn for the fun of it later. The school I go to ATM doesn't have enough well-designed classes, enough good teachers, or a flexible enough curriculum for me to have fun learning (which I do very much under circumstances where I can).

I agree wholeheartedly with your ideas, I just think they're mighty idealistic. Many people don't have a choice to have fun while learning. For me, I'm either bored or stifled by the work we do half the time. It's a small price to pay though, if I can get into a better school by keeping my GPA, test scores, and etc. up.
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Sounds like you are tricking yourself, to me.
If you can't enjoy learning now, you won't enjoy it later.
College is not a dress-rehearsal for life - it is life.
If you keep waiting for the future to enjoy learning, that usually sets up a pattern (or reveals an already existing pattern) of not enjoying the present, and rationalizing it because "I will be happy in the future". This never (or almost never?) works. People who can't enjoy the present won't suddenly develop the ability the enjoy the present sometime in the future.

Enjoying learning is largely a choice.
Being happy is an attitude.
If you think your happiness is dependent on external circumstances, you are making a large, but common, mistake, if you ask me.
Your happiness comes from within, not from the external situation. Therefore, you need to be happy now, if you are ever to be happy.

Just my 2 cents.
 
slimvictor said:
Sounds like you are tricking yourself, to me.
If you can't enjoy learning now, you won't enjoy it later.
College is not a dress-rehearsal for life - it is life.
If you keep waiting for the future to enjoy learning, that usually sets up a pattern (or reveals an already existing pattern) of not enjoying the present, and rationalizing it because "I will be happy in the future". This never (or almost never?) works. People who can't enjoy the present won't suddenly develop the ability the enjoy the present sometime in the future.

Enjoying learning is largely a choice.
Being happy is an attitude.
If you think your happiness is dependent on external circumstances, you are making a large, but common, mistake, if you ask me.
Your happiness comes from within, not from the external situation. Therefore, you need to be happy now, if you are ever to be happy.

Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...


You misunderstand me.

I had a GREAT school experience before my current. I loved learning and enjoyed my work. The curriculum was amazing, and just really showed me my love for knowledge.

At my current school, half of the time they dont even teach us. I don't mean that I think it's boring, I mean I literally sit in class and am told to do absolutely nothing. There isn't a lecture, a project, a book to read. Granted, there are some classes that are taught and taught well, and I enjoy those. But overall, I have a shitty learning situation. It's not a personal choice, because I love to learn whatever chance I get.

And I am a happy guy, actually. Its just that school right now is more of a means for me to be somewhere else. Which is fine by me.
 
"People who can't enjoy the present won't suddenly develop the ability the enjoy the present sometime in the future. "

You kind of contradict yourself there. Of course people can change their way of thinking through ther life! What is someone's 'enjoyment of the present moment' simply doesn't involve sitting in a classroom? Although I'm not disagreeing with you entirely - there might be something to what you're saying
 
ControlDenied said:
"People who can't enjoy the present won't suddenly develop the ability the enjoy the present sometime in the future. "

You kind of contradict yourself there. Of course people can change their way of thinking through ther life! What is someone's 'enjoyment of the present moment' simply doesn't involve sitting in a classroom? Although I'm not disagreeing with you entirely - there might be something to what you're saying
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Of course you are right that people can change their way of thinking.
I didn't explain myself very clearly.
What I was trying to get at was that, for people who are dependent on specific situations in life from which to "derive happiness", there arises inevitable suffering, since all situations change. (Maybe all people believe in this paradigm of happiness, at least to some extent.)
If we have the strength to imbue our lives with happiness instead, and create happiness instead of finding it outside, we are no longer dependent on any external situation or configuration of events in order to feel happy. Our own happiness has become our own doing, and it has become the way we live our lives.
 
Moonmixer said:
You misunderstand me.

I had a GREAT school experience before my current. I loved learning and enjoyed my work. The curriculum was amazing, and just really showed me my love for knowledge.

At my current school, half of the time they dont even teach us. I don't mean that I think it's boring, I mean I literally sit in class and am told to do absolutely nothing. There isn't a lecture, a project, a book to read. Granted, there are some classes that are taught and taught well, and I enjoy those. But overall, I have a shitty learning situation. It's not a personal choice, because I love to learn whatever chance I get.

And I am a happy guy, actually. Its just that school right now is more of a means for me to be somewhere else. Which is fine by me.
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I apologize if I misunderstood you, and jumped to conclusions.
I believe that being happy is a choice, and that people who continue on any lifepath without feeling happy are depriving themselves of experiencing the juiciest sweetness of life.
But I also know that there are times when the most important thing is to complete what one has started, to accomplish something academic or economic, etc. Sometimes just staying the course, despite having to endure difficulties, can be an incredible experience as well, leading to great gains of inner strength.
Good luck, and stay strong!
 
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