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This is my argument The reason why people have a passion is because they believe that they can change something and that it is important. In fact, all emotions are true in such a way. Emotions are simply involuntary responses to our rational observations. A child observes what he is good at and that is how a passion develops. It is very obvious to a child. Everyone as a child had figured it out, but not many people actually followed their passion. Since all passions are rational, then if society is rational, following one’s passion will lead to prosperity. However, this is not the case with our current society. If I want to become a philosopher in North Korea, my prospects are very low or I will not make enough money to survive. This would never happen in a free society because passions are always valuable. However, state intervention prevents the pursuit of an individual’s rational self-interests. It subdues free will. There was a man who did a major in philosophy but who after regretted it because he hadn’t been able to make money from it. It as at this point that people break with their passions. He concluded that passions are not necessarily good and he implicitly accepted nihilism rather than recognising that evil was done unto him. It makes it hard for him to recognise it since sophism is state sponsored in philosophy departments. The majority of people share a similar story. Whether it is coercion from the state, or their parents, or their peers, an adult or child is in some way rejected for following their passions and the adult or child concludes that he cannot trust his emotions. This is the very essence of evil. It is why people did not trust the invisible hand of the free market for tens of thousands of years. Essentially, their self-esteem was so destroyed that they did not trust their own rational faculty. It is the greatest contradiction that ever existed. A virtuous man would find a work-around. He knows that his life is meaningless without passion. He knows that if he were to look back at his life without following his passion, he would regret it and wonder what could have been. There is no alternative for him. Every action we make is motivated by emotion. A person cannot simply think and do. They must think until they feel that they can do. An artificial line has been created between emotions and thoughts. Emotions simply are an expression of our deepest and truest thoughts that we may not even be conscious of. It is analogous to the arbitrary distinction between qualia and meaning. We see red because we associate it with everything else that is red. A person void of passion then, is a robot without free will, following the instructions of others without even being consciously aware of it. So, the virtuous man has no rational choice other than to find alternatives to the best of his ability. This does not mean that the virtuous man will be unsatisfied. The passion arises only from what can be done. If man finds that his passion is unreachable, his passion will naturally change. So, the virtuous man is a force that cannot be stopped by anyone or anything. It is as clear as sunlight what his objective is. A rock cannot turn into a tree, nor can man change his neurological predispositions, particularly once he becomes aware of them. Even if a man is destroyed for following his passions, he will never be the same. He will always be at ease, because he knows what must be done so he will inevitably build himself back up. He is the man who works. But if a man does not immerse into his passions, he will always live a shallow life not knowing what he could have been. “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it” – Lao Tzu.

I had a lot of fun talking and thinking about this. Hobbies! What are they for? What are they even? Can you have hobbies when the world is on fire? Also, being crazy about your passions! Let me know what you think Video is improvised, none-scripted and kind of crazy. You have been warned!

Hello, I'm writing this because I'm at a time in my life when some important decisions have to be made and making them without this community's input seems imprudent. Like most people, I have had many hobbies which I was passionate about yet one of them evolved from being something I wanted to do to something I needed to do. Drawing (or illustration) is my passion and it is that by which I quantify time. Time spent drawing is time well spent. Time spent doing anything else is time not spent drawing. It's always at the back of my head. Currently I work as a surgery intern, or a surgeon in training to be more clear. The job is not that bad and it promises a great future but it's very time consuming, and a future in which I'm spending less and less time drawing doesn't sound that great of a deal to me. People basically work really hard, for a really long time in order to enjoy lavish long vacations. I myself spend my vacation time catching up with all the drawing I didn't do because I was working for so long. I'm not putting this forth as a complaint, I'm just pointing out I would rather draw than go on a vacation. It's my first job (first statist-esque job that is) and I'm only 8 months into it. I got it in my head that after one year I should spend the next one solely focusing on turning my hobby into a job. Does this seem wise? Please keep in mind that this is not a money issue, you will laugh out loud at how little I make as an intern thus my reluctance to give up my current job does not stem from that. A lot of success stories are of people of working in some job they don't particularly care about to sustain themselves and after a long painful haul they finally turn their passion in a career. So I've been thinking, doing things you don't want to do is just training yourself into doing those particular things you won't want to do in your "dream job" but which are essential for success. Basically, is the job the catalyst that might help you succeed in your passion, or is it the thing that's holding you back? Do you go to work thinking you would much rather do anything else? Is this the "normal" mindset of having a job? If it's not, how did you achieve the opposite mindset? How did you manage to get a job in which the reward is the job itself? Another thing I'm thinking about is that maybe I'll be much happier working as a doctor. It's a concept that puts a smile on my face, but if that's true I might not be able to succeed as one because my current passion is what's holding me back. If I had the same drive in my current job that I have in drawing I would easily be on top. Maybe I'm not working in the field I should be working in, or maybe I'm just confusing the temptation of doing whatever I want with the drive to succeed. Maybe success is just willpower with rare sprouts of motivation. I really want other people's input on this.

Hey there! So its my first post on this beautiful board. So i thought I'd make it a good one! I've been so inspired by some of Stef's recent podcasts about lofty ambitions and reaching one's full potential that i thought I'd ask.. What are everyone's ambitions? What are everyones goals / dreams? What is everyone striving toward? This can be anything you like (obviously). What i mean by that is it doesn't just have to be a job or abstraction (e.g world peace). It could be anything. Any situation, Any Goal, Any hopes or dream that your aspiring to with the help of philosophy. I'l start. I wan't to make music full time. I want to make music that as Stef puts it "Lights the electricity in peoples spines!". I've been writing for 15 years so I think I'm well on my way I want a life entirely surrounded by people i love and admire & who love and admire me. Shoot.

Hello. I wanted to share this with the board, in the hopes of someone might have advice they could share with me. Be warned though, this could very likely be a very messy post, because my thoughts are all over the place. My situation today: I am in collage, studying at the moment two REALLY easy courses, which gives me in a sense, all the free-time in the world. This has been the case for a month now. My weeks have looked like this basically: Go to the gym 3-4 times a week, listen to pod-casts on FDR, work as a volunteer at my union's union-house as a chef's apprentice and as personal when there are night-clubs, go to parties with my friends, work within my fraternity, hang with my two closest friends in my dorm. However, the last week or so, I have noticed something that consumes enormous amounts of my time: Sitting in front of the computer, doing practically nothing. Basically pressing F5 while on facebook. And for the last few days, my mood has deteriorated. I have felt apathetic, powerless. Imprisoned within my own room, and I am my own guard. Or, my anxieties are my guards. Well, that's a hypothesis I have at least. Could be wrong of course. What I mean by that is, that I am running short on money. I am, for the first time in my life, approaching a situation where I MUST find myself a job to pay the rent and put food on my table. Problem is, I have extreme anxiety around the prospect of applying for a job. Essentially paralyzing me when I for example, try to write a resume. Today, just 20 minutes ago, I took out my camera, and recorded myself for 30 minutes straight (I used to do my journaling text, but now I am trying out video-journaling and I find it easier actually), just blurting out stuff. Stuff like ''Alright, I am really frustrated because I want something to do! But not just something to pass the time, but something I have a passion for! Something that I can devote almost all my time to, make a living out of, have as my life-goal! I want a purpose! I want meaning!'' My mind was racing at this point, I wasn't sitting down recording, but pacing about, starting to breathe like I had been running for 30 minutes as a not-so-fit-person (basically, I hadn't done anything physically that would make me breathe like that). I would stop talking during that time and start to sing instead, that I didn't know what to do with my life. I also noticed a few thoughts pop up in my mind, which did not make sense to me. Thoughts like ''Your life is over, it's to late to achieve anything, you had your chance but you passed it up!''. Even though, intellectually, I know that I still have time. I am only 21 years old, and I have passion! I have good health! But I don't know where to put all my potential! I don't know what to do with my life. Sigh. I am sorry if it is all over the place.

Hello, I have an idea I want to share. Today I wanted to listen back to the Call-In show I had the other day, and I saw that it had been posted on Youtube recently. If you didn't get to listen in, I was calling about my lack of motivation in the activities I take part in. It was hard for me(anxiety provoking) to get on the show and expose myself to big chatty forehead, as he is kind of a supermodel of philosophy for me, and I always value his insights. I think Stefan helped me gain a clearer picture of my problem and what I could do to gain passion and start to really live. Now, I went to the Youtube page for the show, and I decided to look at the comments before starting the video. The first comment was someone saying, and I quote: ''Why even continue talking to people like Emmanuel when he's clearly operating on half a brain cell? There are a lot of callers like that. Sometimes I wonder if they are just trolls?''. As I read that, I felt hurt, sad and ashamed. I started to self-attack and ask myself if I was really that deficient, and if I was somehow wasting everyone's time with my issues. I really don't feel well after this, and it sort of shifted my entire mindset that I had before, when I wanted to look back at what someone I highly respect had to say to me. I don't know why I felt that strongly about that person's comment, but I did and I don't think it's a good thing for me to be so sensitive to others, especially if they are abusive. I was also wondering why someone would say something like that, don't they know that it hurts(especially coming from someone who watches FDR)? I just feel down right now and I'm unsure of what to do from now on, to get my ambition back. It's really sad that it can go away like that, with one snarky comment on Youtube. Thanks a lot, and I await your responses. Emanuel