Wasting One’s Life

Teacher:

To waste one’s life means to spend it in blindness and delusion.

It is to chase illusions that the world has placed before you. It is to live according to the script of society, to seek approval, to collect meaningless trophies, and to obey the machinery of existence without ever truly questioning it. It is to be consumed by distractions, to be enslaved by fears, to be governed by habits, and to die without ever having truly lived.

It is to live in avoidance of truth. To run from discomfort. To hide from one’s own mind. To live a borrowed existence, devoid of individuality or depth.

A wasted life is one that has been lived on the surface—where you may have accumulated achievements, but never tasted freedom. You may have fulfilled roles but never touched joy. You may have been busy, but never truly awake.

Student:

How does this look like in reality, how does it look like in my own life?

Teacher:

In reality, the wasting of life is subtle. It happens in moments so ordinary that you don’t even notice. It happens in your routines, in your distractions, in the way you run from yourself. Let us examine your life:

1. The Pursuit of Approval:
   Do you find yourself doing things so others will think well of you? Choosing a career, a lifestyle, or even words to impress? This is slavery to others’ opinions.
2. Escaping Discomfort:
   How much of your day is spent avoiding discomfort? Scrolling through your phone, chasing entertainment, or numbing yourself in routine? You seek to avoid silence because silence confronts you with the emptiness within.
3. The Absence of True Aspiration:
   Are your goals truly your own? Or are they borrowed from society, family, or peers? The constant pursuit of wealth, status, or security—are these things you chose, or did you simply inherit them?
4. Living for Tomorrow:
   Do you tell yourself that someday you will live? Someday you will be happy, free, or fulfilled? A wasted life is perpetually lived in “someday.”
5. The Disconnection from Self:
   How much time have you spent understanding yourself? Your mind, your fears, your conditioning? A wasted life is one where you remain a stranger to your own being.

These things are not dramatic. They are quiet. They weave into your days, into the way you think and act. And if you are honest with yourself, you will see them clearly.

Would you dare to see? Would you dare to question? This is what matters.

Student:

What is the way out of this?

Teacher:

The way out of this is not in adding more to your life. It is in subtracting. It is in unbecoming. It is not a journey forward—it is a return to yourself.

Here is what the way out looks like:

Radical Honesty – Begin by seeing your life as it truly is. Not as you wish it to be. Not as you pretend it to be. Be ruthlessly honest about your fears, your insecurities, your habits, your motives. Without honesty, there is no freedom.

Stop Running – Stop escaping into distractions. Stop numbing yourself with busyness. Sit with the discomfort of your life. Face the emptiness, the fear, the confusion. Only by sitting with it will you see through it.

Question Everything – Question your beliefs, your goals, your desires. Ask yourself:

• Is this truly mine, or have I inherited it?
• Does this lead to freedom, or does it bind me?
• Am I living, or merely surviving?

Most of what you cling to will not withstand deep questioning. Let it fall away.

Be Alone – Spend time with yourself. Not in the company of your phone, books, or distractions, but in true solitude. It is in aloneness that you meet yourself. And it is in meeting yourself that you begin to live.

Pursue Truth, Not Comfort – Truth will not make you feel good. It will destroy you. It will strip you of your illusions, your safety nets, your lies. But only in truth is there freedom. Comfort is the seduction of a wasted life.

Act with Intention – Do not live passively. Choose. Each moment, each decision—let it be deliberate. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? What is it for?” If the answer is unclear, do not act.

Die to the World – You must die to your need for approval. Die to your attachment to success and failure. Die to the roles you play and the identities you cling to. Only in dying to these things can you be born into a life that is truly yours.

The Path is Yours – No one can walk this path for you. No guide, no teacher, no philosophy will save you. The way out is through. Through your own mind, your own heart, your own life.

You will stumble. You will fall. But if you are sincere, you will rise. And as you shed the illusions, you will begin to taste freedom—not the shallow freedom the world sells you, but the deep freedom of being alive.

The way out is simple. But it is not easy. The question is: will you choose it?