A reason not to worry about wasting life

Summary

This insightful video by 'Accepting the Universe' tackles the common fear of wasting one’s life by offering a fresh perspective on inner versus outer achievements. The creator argues that meaning and purpose are not found in external accomplishments but within ourselves. By letting go of outward ambitions, we can discover true fulfillment effortlessly. The video emphasizes the importance of introspection, exploring philosophical and religious insights into self-knowledge, and finding intrinsic happiness, even in adversity. The creator shares examples from history, including Socrates, Jesus, and Viktor Frankl, to illustrate how true purpose stems from within, urging us to cultivate inward growth through reading and writing.

Highlights

• Exploring the illusion of outward success versus inward peace. 🌌
• Understanding one's self is more important than societal achievements, according to ancient philosophies and religions. 📜
• Historical figures like Socrates and Jesus found meaning from inner beliefs rather than external accomplishments. ✨
• Viktor Frankl’s experiences in the Holocaust underscored the power of finding meaning within oneself. 🕊
• Tips on cultivating inner growth: start with reading and personal journaling. 🖊

Key Takeaways

• External accomplishments often drive anxiety; true peace comes from inner fulfillment. 🌱
• Socrates, Jesus, and Viktor Frankl are cited as examples of individuals who found true meaning by looking inward. 🌟
• Our true work in life isn't dictated by society's standards but by our own inner values and beliefs. 🔍
• Reading and writing are powerful tools for self-discovery and understanding. 📚
• Happiness isn't determined by external success but by internal peace and understanding. 😇

Overview

The video differentiates between the illusion of success in outward ventures and the true fulfillment found in self-understanding and inner achievements. It argues that our societal obsession with external goals leads to anxiety and dissatisfaction. Instead, by focusing on self-knowledge, individuals can achieve a profound sense of peace and purpose.

Several historical and philosophical perspectives are examined in the video, from Socrates and Jesus to Viktor Frankl, highlighting their journeys of inward discovery. These figures are used to demonstrate the concept that real change and fulfillment come from within, despite the hardships of the outside world.

To assist viewers in pursuing their own inward journeys, the creator suggests engaging in reading and writing activities. This practice aids in personal reflection and inner work, encouraging a deeper understanding of one's true desires and sense of self, opposing the need to chase after society’s idea of success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction: Destroying the Fear of Wasting Life The chapter titled 'Introduction: Destroying the Fear of Wasting Life' explores the anxiety and obsession many people feel about making a significant impact on the world. It highlights the pressure individuals place on themselves to determine their purpose, achieve greatness, and establish a lasting legacy. The discussion includes observations of children, young adults, and adults alike, all grappling with the fear of not living up to their potential or wasting their lives.
• 01:30 - 06:00: The Difference Between Inward and Outward Works The chapter explores the idea of personal milestones and goals, focusing on the internal and external pressures individuals place on themselves. It discusses how people often set age-specific targets to achieve certain things in life, leading to anxiety and fear as those self-imposed deadlines approach and sometimes pass without achievement. This can cause a cycle of obsession and fear of failure, highlighting the difference between letting external timelines govern one's actions versus a more inward-focused approach to growth and personal development.
• 06:00 - 13:30: The Illusion of Outward Success and Fulfillment The chapter addresses the pervasive fear of not amounting to anything or feeling that one has wasted their life. This sense of existential dread is a common experience, but the chapter sets itself as the starting point for overcoming these fears. The aim is to completely eradicate these doubts and the illusion of outward success and fulfillment, and to foster a new perspective free of such fear.
• 13:30 - 21:00: Finding Meaning Within: Philosophical and Religious Insights This chapter explores the theme of finding meaning in life through philosophical and religious insights. It begins by discussing how certain beliefs or thoughts may appear logical but are ultimately detrimental to happiness and reasonable living. The narrative argues for the necessity of recognizing the futility and irrationality of these beliefs by differentiating between inner thoughts and external actions.
• 21:00 - 30:30: Inspirational Figures: Socrates, Jesus, and Viktor Frankl This chapter explores the contrasting ease of internal processes with the difficulties of achievements in the external world. It emphasizes how effortless internal understanding and personal growth can be while acknowledging the complexity and challenges in achieving tangible goals in the outside world.
• 30:30 - 43:00: The True Work of Life: Inward Work and Its Effortless Nature The chapter focuses on the nature of inward work and how it is an essential aspect of life. It emphasizes the difference between outward actions and inward feelings, illustrating this with the simple act of expressing feelings to a friend through a letter. The narrative suggests that true work involves a personal and subtle effort, much like writing a special note to convey heartfelt emotions. This effort, though small and humble, represents a deeper process of connection and understanding, illustrating the effortless nature of genuine inward work.
• 43:00 - 53:00: Achieving Inward Work: The Power of Reading and Writing The chapter discusses the significance of taking initiative when it comes to reading and writing. It emphasizes the importance of preparation, such as selecting the right materials like paper and envelopes, before you start writing. Finding the right words is crucial, and making mistakes is part of the process. The pursuit of making your writing special and beautiful can lead to starting over multiple times until you're satisfied with the result.

A reason not to worry about wasting life Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 we have all seen and are seeing children young adults and of course adults around us who obsess over the question of how they are going to change the world how they are going to make a name for themselves what their purpose is going to be how and by when they can make something of themselves and become a
• 00:30 - 01:00 somebody and they obsess over it and they maybe set themselves certain dates certain ages by which they think they should achieve such and such things and they grow up to be adults and those ages and dates and whatever come and pass and they start fearing which they've been doing all along also that
• 01:00 - 01:30 they'll never amount to anything and they wonder have I wasted my life they fear am I wasting my life now and we've all done this and I want this video to be the beginning of us completely destroying that fear just getting rid of it because it's
• 01:30 - 02:00 entirely counter to not only our happiness but to reason and I hope to show you how the first step in my opinion of realizing how feudal this is and how nonsensical it is in reality is to notice the difference between our inward works and our outward
• 02:00 - 02:30 works in other words how effortlessly and how easily how simply everything happens within us and how difficult and how to how sometimes impossible it is in our outward works on the things all the things that we try to achieve in the outside world the entire crucial point is in this
• 02:30 - 03:00 difference and I want to illustrate that with a with a simple little thing imagine you want to tell your friend how you feel about them you just want to write them a nice little few words and you decide to do it with a little note card or a postcard or a little letter because you want to make it special just a little bit of effort if you have the supplies you can
• 03:00 - 03:30 start writing if you don't you have first have to go out and get the right paper the the envelopes and and and all that and then you can start writing it and if you can find the right words you can start putting it down on paper and you might make a mistake you might make a spelling mistake and because you wanted to make it special and somewhat beautiful of course you can't just strike through it or anything like that you want to start over you do that however many times then
• 03:30 - 04:00 when you finally have it all down that's that's great you put it in the envelope you seal it if you have a stamp for it you can put it on if you realize you're out of stamps you need to go get stamps and after that you need to walk or drive to the to the closest mailbox or post office and it still doesn't end there it literally is out of your hands at that point but there's still so much that
• 04:00 - 04:30 needs to work out the weather needs to cooperate the people who work there need to be competent they don't need they must not make a mistake uh your letter must not get stuck in some machine there's luck and luck and chance and and the other people involved and literally weather involved and just randomness and if all of that goes well your friend might receive your letter and they might be there to open it and
• 04:30 - 05:00 to read it and to understand it this is our this is an example to an external work the same exact work inwardly of thinking these things that you're writing of feeling this way towards your friend of thinking of them in your mind is instant and effortless and completely under your control
• 05:00 - 05:30 everything inside of us in our minds in our souls in our spirits whatever you want to call it in our intellect is complete and instant and effortless and the same thing you can see how much it work it takes if it is to be an outward work an an activity of us in the outside world versus in the inside world
• 05:30 - 06:00 and I say this to say this even the simplest of things of of thinking a few words and then needing to accomplish them so to speak in the real world to have it reach our friend physically you can see how much more work that is than us just already feeling that way and thinking like that within us and it's the same with this whole idea
• 06:00 - 06:30 of what's the meaning of life what's my purpose what's my place in it how do I how will I find myself we try to solve these problems so to speak we try to make them come real we we work on them in the outside world and not in the inside world and that's why we're doomed to fail in other words we're doomed to this
• 06:30 - 07:00 fear of never being able to accomplish them because yes we're probably not these are dreams and ambitions that that we come up as children young adults or even adults with the very limited insight into reality into the world that we have and we just go into our imagination and think the outside world will cooperate and will do this and this for us and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and everything will go well so that I
• 07:00 - 07:30 might achieve my dreams only so that I can feel like I've made something of myself whatever that means whereas to make something of oneself to find oneself within can be achieved perfectly and effortlessly but we go on trying to achieve it trying to know ourselves find ourselves and our meaning in
• 07:30 - 08:00 life outside of us and so we're doomed to be constantly pushed and pulled by outside forces by outside materials and means and luck and other people and chance and weather and climate all these things that we have no control over we start holding ourselves responsible for because we have a
• 08:00 - 08:30 mission to achieve and if that mission if our mission is not achieved then we are a failure in our minds and that's why any little chance thing any bad luck the moods and whims of others become extremely important to us and they become a source of anxiety naturally because they can stand in the way of us fulfilling our missions
• 08:30 - 09:00 they can stand in the way of us becoming someone making something of ourselves but look at every single philosophy every single religion that has ever honestly and with dedication tried to find out the meaning of all
• 09:00 - 09:30 this i try to find truth honestly and without ulterior motives all end up saying the same thing all the ancient Greek philosophers tell us and told themselves know thyself in another time in another place the Bhagwat Gita says "Know that by the knowing of which
• 09:30 - 10:00 all things are known." Know that by the knowing of which all things are known which is thyself and of course countless examples in in Christianity in Islam in the Bible and the Quran everything This is why this is said everything in the outside world is
• 10:00 - 10:30 an image of reality every single tree you see is an instance an image of the idea of a tree every single dog you see is an instance an image of dog as a concept if every single dog would die and someday will right the idea of
• 10:30 - 11:00 it will still be there and if given the right conditions somewhere in the universe that same exact concept might find an image again might become an instance again might exist again somewhere actively again of course passively it always exists because the idea is always there even if there's not a single dog in the universe we in our minds know there have been dogs that
• 11:00 - 11:30 idea is real and that idea doesn't die with the last dog or the last tree or the last human because if it did we couldn't remember it anything that has once existed in tangible form as an image an example of it and that there's no example of any longer but we were there when there was we know in our minds it still exists the idea the concept the blueprint for it
• 11:30 - 12:00 will never ever die and so we give that up to come to the outside world and to try to do our work there to become active there to tie ourselves to become slaves to images and to luck and to chance the random fate and we try to achieve
• 12:00 - 12:30 that ideological that conceptual that very we could say divine goal that we have within ourselves who am I what am I what is all this what is my place in it and we try to answer that question which arises in us when we go and try to answer it outside of us and is never ever going to
• 12:30 - 13:00 work and coincidentally all the people who ever did truly change something in the world for the better all those people who did so to speak make something of themselves and are still remembered and will always be remembered and stand for something those are the people who answered that question within themselves who found meaning within themselves not in any activity in any
• 13:00 - 13:30 mission in any accomplishment in any so-called success in any ambition outside of themselves not in anything in the outside world they have never done anything outwardly for its sake it all comes from what they know and what they've figured out what they believe in on the inside it's only an
• 13:30 - 14:00 image of what they achieved truly achieved within themselves and they literally gave up their life in this outside world to live according to the life that they had within them we read of Socrates who had to drink poison because he was convicted with because of some trumped
• 14:00 - 14:30 up charges his charges were that because of his questioning what we now call Socratic questioning him going around and asking people "What do you believe and why do you believe it?" And him asking them for so long that they really didn't know why they believed what they believed he was accused of corrupting the children or corrupting the youth and introducing new gods because
• 14:30 - 15:00 his new god so to speak was you know reason and he was so-called corrupting the youth because he was confusing them he was breaking societal norms that don't really make any sense once questions they they hold up they don't hold up to rationality and he was simply exposing that factor many times in in Plato's dialogues where he calls himself a midwife he says "I know nothing i'm just a midwife i bring
• 15:00 - 15:30 out the good ideas within you." But anyway he went to trial and a jury of his peers hundreds of people by a small margin found him to be guilty of that and he drank the poison which he was sentenced to do even though he could have escaped and one might might say what's
• 15:30 - 16:00 the point of dying like that what's the point of respecting trumped up charges and laws that are objectively backwards and wrong and just from reading the dialogue just from reading how he thought you can tell why he himself was
• 16:00 - 16:30 involved in government so to speak he himself was someone who made laws and and um enforced laws and he believed in justice and he believed in a society in which people respect the laws and so he didn't want to be the one who
• 16:30 - 17:00 breaks that not because anyone else would perceive him to be a hypocrite but because he believed that with himself within himself and if you really want to satisfy that part of yourself who still thinks that way who still thinks well that was a pointless death what's the point of that i'll tell you there was a point even in that way by his death he revealed things and by his life and by
• 17:00 - 17:30 sticking to what he said throughout his life his death confirmed his belief to everyone else that he believed in his life it was proof that he truly did think that way it was proof that he truly believed these things and it added a weight to his words and to his thoughts that still exist today i do believe that the only reason that
• 17:30 - 18:00 we still know of Socrates and that we hold those ideas in such high regard is because of this proof and he revealed things to us that once revealed we will never be able to forget again similarly with Jesus it's a very very similar figure in that way jesus didn't want to die on the cross he didn't think when he was a child or a young adult that that would be his ambition that that's how he would make a name for
• 18:00 - 18:30 himself that that would be his ambition and his achievement and his goal no he found his meaning his ambition his purpose in the highest truest sense within himself and then just like Socrates went on uncompromisingly to live according to those ideas which he thought was higher than anything else than any of these images copies of things the outside
• 18:30 - 19:00 world and it's because of the things he revealed that he ended up on the cross because it angered the people who didn't understand truly what he was revealing he said before he died I will speak in parables and I will reveal what has been hidden since the foundation of the world and that's exactly what he did he revealed why people are angry he
• 19:00 - 19:30 revealed why they hate he revealed that the kingdom of heaven God's kingdom is here on earth and not only in some afterlife it's that we are in hell can be in hell now and we can be in heaven now it's about how what we do with this life and how to enter that heaven in
• 19:30 - 20:00 this life that's what he revealed but people many people didn't want to hear about it because it meant that they would have to give up their outward ambitions their outward works that they would have to stop loving copies and images and false things and false idols such as money their greed their wealth their successes all these things they would have to give up to truly
• 20:00 - 20:30 enter heaven to find all the answers within them because we can either live inside or outside we cannot do both not at the same time anyway we have to make a choice and it goes counter to everything we've ever been told and that's why it's so hard so difficult it feels to let go of these
• 20:30 - 21:00 things there's another friend who can immediately show us that and I've talked about him a few times before Victor Frankl he wrote a book Man's Search for Meaning it's all in here he was a Jew during World War II who did actually have to go to a concentration camp he lost his pregnant wife he lost his career he was a psychologist and I
• 21:00 - 21:30 think a professor at schools he was literally stripped of every single thing he thought he was and ever was and ever could be and the only reason he made it out of the Holocaust and had a flourishing career and and inward world and happiness afterwards is because he understood that
• 21:30 - 22:00 everything outside of us are copies and images and not the real thing and that everything truly worth having everything truly divine everything truly good is within us and he looked around himself and he saw the misery of all the people who thought that the things they lost were them that they were their careers that they were their families that they were
• 22:00 - 22:30 their status that they were what they were doing in the outside world before all of this happened he saw the desperation and the fear and the anxiety and the complete resignation and depressive deaths of those people and then he looked around and he saw people in the exact same condition obviously in the same
• 22:30 - 23:00 camp with smiles on their faces and he saw even though they too had lost everything and are literally in the same position they were going around giving people their last pieces of bread that they were secretly hiding that they would give some people without shoes their own shoes because they thought they needed it more or their jackets why because they were living for inward
• 23:00 - 23:30 higher ideals they were they discovered things that are that are higher than the all the images and copies in the outside world they discovered ideas they discovered the idea of love and true love doesn't make you smile just when things are pretty and easy and comfortable and abundant but true love is to just see
• 23:30 - 24:00 another intellect another soul right there and true kindness is not what you do what you do when you have a million of something and you give someone one but true kindness is the feeling you have inside and whether you have 10 pieces of bread 100 pieces of bread or just one if you feel like the other person
• 24:00 - 24:30 needs it more because of your honest true kindness that you have within yourself then that then there's no attachment to that piece of bread that that person has clearly or it's their shoes or their jacket they knew those people knew that they did not lose anything that none of this could harm them the true them and that this true self of
• 24:30 - 25:00 theirs would only be harmed if they despaed if they started becoming angry if they started becoming hateful towards their capttors or resentful towards their situation which is exactly what their enemies felt those people who put them there are were the ones who are angry and hateful and resentful and they knew that they would not could not lose themselves until they
• 25:00 - 25:30 became like them and to be angry to be hateful to be resentful is a choice and they knew that if they made that choice then they would truly lose everything and so simply they did not make that choice because like we said before everything in the inside world our beliefs our opinions our thoughts the ideas that we choose to have it's
• 25:30 - 26:00 effortless to believe in them everything is effortless and simple things only get toilsome and extremely hard and complicated and pretty much impossible on the outside it is on the outside world that we need means resources
• 26:00 - 26:30 effort ambition drive in the inside world none of that is needed and much much higher things are accomplished not even close not even comparable to what you can accomplish in the outside world to go through the Holocaust and to come out of it and say "I have found meaning i have meaning and I still smile
• 26:30 - 27:00 and I still love and I still haven't given into anger and hatred." That's an accomplishment that's making something of yourself that's finding yourself and that's finding meaning and purpose and whatever you want to call it what better so-called ambition achievement success is there than that and of course we don't need to go through the Holocaust to find these
• 27:00 - 27:30 things either all the highest achievements you cannot even dream of are within you and the work to accomplish those highest achievements you could never even dream of can only be done within you and that work to achieve those things is effortless and it's completely under your control
• 27:30 - 28:00 effortless doesn't mean it's not painful effortless doesn't mean it's not scary it can be the scariest thing because you have to give up all those things that you thought were real all those things that you were thought were the best things the highest things all those need to be given up because they're all on the outside world and you can't take them in the inside world and you can't be in both places at
• 28:00 - 28:30 once but the scariest of work is also the most freeing and so in that way there's some difficulty you might say otherwise everyone would have it otherwise it would be so easy that it's not even a thought of course I'll go for that to see it to know it to have it be revealed to you to reveal it to yourself that is in a way difficult
• 28:30 - 29:00 and takes some effort it takes dedication but once that's done everything truly becomes effortless out of time everything else becomes unimportant easy simple not even worth thinking about let alone worry
• 29:00 - 29:30 about and if you think what could possibly be my purpose my meaning in life what am I here to do what am I here to achieve what's better than that what could be higher than that and it's the same for all of us we don't need to go around in the world and find a problem in it and find bad people in it so that we can fight them so that we can change the world so that we can make a name for ourselves so that we can do something
• 29:30 - 30:00 good for in the world only to appease our dreams and imaginations that's how people who look for their achievements their ambitions their works their activities in the outward world they need to find something wrong with it so that they can fix it otherwise what are they here for what are they going to do with their life and if you ever ask me which many of you do how to do this what I call the work of
• 30:00 - 30:30 life because this is our true work right again there's our outward work our work for money for a living whatever it might be and then there's the true work the work of life the work that all of this other work is for how do I achieve this work of life and there are as many ways to achieving that as there are people there are as many ways to meaning as there are people but what I believe in
• 30:30 - 31:00 wholeheartedly can be the tools and the path and the way for you to achieve this is reading and writing and that's exactly why I started the book club like no other which is just a newsletter we read Senica's letters right now and then we journal about them they're perfect for this because they're only a few pages long Senica's letters and he always talks about some part of
• 31:00 - 31:30 the work of life always it's amazing and we read that with the intention of writing about it which makes it which makes us read it in a whole different way very closely and then we go on writing about it not necessarily about it not a response or anything we write about whatever it makes us think and we write in a way that convinces ourselves and develops these
• 31:30 - 32:00 ideas and so I encourage you to sign up for it said accepting the universe.com it's the newsletter essentially because that's how I get to share my journal entry each week with you that that way is the book club like no other we're we're doing things together you write your journal entry i write my journal entry and I share mine with you and that way we're doing it together and it's never too late to start all the past journal entries are on the website
• 32:00 - 32:30 you can start at any point at letter one if you want to of course the newsletter also includes my favorite quote of the week reading recommendations there's a new reading recommendation coming out today with this video and any anything else that I feel like I need to communicate to you will come through there and truly there's nothing better than reading and writing there's nothing better than starting the inward work and
• 32:30 - 33:00 to cease many of our outward so-called activities and to truly start knowing that by the knowing of which all things are known