My very first psychology exam was a disaster. It was the first serious exam I had ever taken. I was in music school before then, and we were only evaluated on our ability to lie.

- Did you practice such-and-such?
- Yes. Of course.
- OK. Then prove it.
- OK.

In music school, you can be extraordinarily successful without doing any school work. Admittance is conditional on having a certain aptitude to perform, and in-school evaluation merely affirms that you have sustained that aptitude. Since the seven years prior to your attendance were solely dedicated to becoming an aesthetic technocrat, it is easy to see how music school would be a breeze. You have already done all of the work.

Psychology is a little bit different. No one goes into a psychology program with a clue on how to take a multiple choice test. Nor does anyone know how to memorise experiments. Failure is inevitable if you apply the music school model of success to psychology tests. Such was the case with me.

This might all seem to point to the thought that psychology in some way is more challenging then music. This is patently false. While the institutionalised level of difficulty might be incomparable, there is no escaping the tyranny of music after you have submitted yourself to its all-encompassing reign.

It is easy to forget about psychology. It is easy to forget about philosophy. But music contains you in a Pandora's Box, from which you can never escape.

It destroys you.