Hi everyone,
Thank you for your concern and I'm a bit surprised at the response to this thread as I thought most people would view it as just another one of those teenage rebellion rants.
I feel silly in a way at my reaction to my parents now that I've had time to think about it. But at the same time, I think this is a new stage in our relationship. I changed immensely within the past 3 months. I became a vegetarian, picked up bodybuilding, started experimenting with new models of reality (notably Steve's subjective model), and tried out new productivity and studying techniques such as Photoreading. I would never had done all this had I not discovered Steve's website.
But as everyone says about Yin and Yang, I think the negative aspect to such sudden growth is that I feel very conflicted at times because I feel I have outgrown so many of my parents' ways of thinking. When I talk to people now, I notice I find myself more interested in knowing about their views on heavy topics such as the meaning of life and what is their purpose in life.
I feel I already have the attitude and mindset ready to tackle the difficult challenges of life, but it seems with every step I take off the "normal" path, I meet resistance from my parents. It's not blatant resistance, but more like subtle things such as the tone of their voice or what they say.
I think you guys are right, I need to talk to them honestly about this. But at the same time, it's like telling them, "I'm going to fail a lot in my new path" to people who are failure germaphobes. That is what it feels like. I feel they have not been there with me for this huge change and also they try telling me my new vegetarian diet is a result of Internet brainwash and I need to stay away from such bad advice on the Internet
I know they have the best of intentions, but we simply just aren't speaking the same language. I say I want to achieve great things in life. They say, OK study hard and get a job. I say I am eating healthy by avoiding meats and drinking soy milk. They say, OK you need to drink milk and stop reading so much Internet brainwash.
I'm going to read those two articles you posted RT Wolf and hopefully that will help. I think I have reached a stepping stone in the past few hours though. I feel if my parents are truly stubborn and uncompromising, I can still use the stone-cold tactic when I talk to them and eventually find a more supporting group. But if things go better, then I won't have to use that tactic and can go on my merry way. Thanks everyone!