A Student’s Notes: A response

These are the notes, I received from a student.

Dear Student,

What you have written here reveals both clarity and struggle. You are clearly aware of certain patterns in your life that are corrosive, yet you wrestle with the discipline, coming from the understanding required, to remove them. Let us examine what you have written carefully, so we may go deeper.

“Poison to cut out completely – Does this support me? No!”

You have correctly identified the most important question: “Does this support me?” That is the question every seeker must ask of every habit, relationship, and thought in their life. However, this question is meaningless unless it is paired with action.

• YouTube: You acknowledge that it provides no real benefit, yet you call it “entertainment.” Is such fleeting entertainment necessary? Does it nourish you? Or does it rob you of time and energy you could devote to something real? Entertainment is a drug. It soothes, but ask yourself if it leaves you weaker than before. If you are truly disgusted by it, as you suggest, then what hinders you from cutting it out completely? Anything less is self-deception.
• Phone checking & scrolling: Here, too, you use the word “waste.” This is not accidental. You feel it as a waste because you know, deep down, that it adds no meaning to your life. Yet, you indulge in it. Why? Is it because it distracts you from facing something uncomfortable? Is it because it provides the illusion of connection while keeping you disconnected from yourself? Face this question honestly.
• Sugars: Sugar is not just a poison to the body; it is a mask for discomfort—a quick escape from stress, boredom, or emotional voids. The craving is rarely about sugar itself but about avoiding something deeper. Abstinence alone fails because it fights the symptom, not the cause. To truly overcome it, one must confront the root: the unease sugar numbs. Sit with the discomfort, understand it, and address its source. In doing so, discipline ceases to be about denial and becomes the clarity and strength to no longer need the crutch. Freedom lies not in avoidance but in transformation.

The question is not whether these poisons should be removed. The question is whether you are serious enough to do so.

“Compound effect of distraction vs. actual, sincere introspection”

You have written something profound here. The curve you drew illustrates an essential truth: distraction compounds in one direction, while introspection compounds in another. The problem with distraction is that its rewards are immediate and fleeting, whereas the benefits of introspection are subtle and long-term.

To overcome this, you must become deeply interested in yourself. Not your social persona, not your day-to-day struggles—but the workings of your mind. Why do you crave distraction? Why do you resist silence? Introspection is not just sitting with your thoughts—it is examining them, questioning them, and going beyond them.

You mention “studying the mind.” This is critical. Do not simply consume ideas from podcasts or books—observe your mind as if it were a laboratory. What triggers your need for distraction? What happens when you sit in stillness? Study these patterns with ruthless honesty.

“Activities showing ‘anti-devotion’”

Devotion is not limited to religion or spirituality. Devotion is a quality of energy—it is the state of being deeply aligned with what truly matters. Anti-devotion, on the other hand, is the scattering of energy into trivial pursuits.

Look at your day. How many hours are devoted to the trivial? How many to the essential? Anti-devotion is not just about wasting time—it is about betraying your potential. Every time you indulge in distraction, you are actively choosing to diminish yourself. If this does not fill you with a sense of urgency, then nothing will.

“I feel a sort of disgust about the status quo of everything. It is just one event after another, the drudgery of Monday-Friday. That’s an ultimate way of wasting one’s life.”

This statement is the heart of your notes. It is the cry of someone who feels trapped in a system of mediocrity. The Monday-Friday grind is the very embodiment of anti-devotion. It reduces life to a series of mechanical routines, leaving no space for depth or meaning.

But understand this: the world will not change for you. The system will not suddenly become inspiring. If you wish to escape this “ultimate way of wasting one’s life,” you must rebel—not against the system, but against your own inertia.

Rebellion is not loud. It is silent, disciplined, and fierce. It is cutting away everything that wastes your energy. It is devoting yourself, completely and unapologetically, to what is real.

The disgust you feel is a gift—it is your awareness telling you that something is wrong. Do not suppress it. Use it as fuel to create change. But understand that disgust without action is just complaint.

The drudgery of Monday-Friday is not mandatory. Begin to design a life that reflects your deepest values.

Final Words

The life you desire will not come to you. You must take it. Every moment of distraction, every indulgence in triviality, is a step away from yourself. The work is difficult, but it is the only work worth doing.

Ask yourself: Do you want to remain disgusted? Or do you want to become free? The choice is entirely yours.