Lyric discussion by Kruppz 

Cover art for A Beautiful Lie lyrics by 30 Seconds to Mars

I think there's this phase of life when we're young when most of us aim to do something different in life. BE different, DO different, think different--that's just the craze among the youngsters. It's the snob appeal. But how many of us youngsters actually define in explicit terms what being or doing "different" means for us.

Many a times, we might be passionate about a thing which is so commonplace so we drop it & instead go the "do different" stream.Now this is wrong.

"battles of your youth" refers to the competition that we face wherever we go. & the competitive spirit is at its peak in our youth. So when we lose, we try to console ourself pretending "it's just a game" while it's not. IT IS "LIFE". WIN or LOSE--we need to show the same level of difference. Take things in ur stride.

SO the beautiful (ironically) lie is "this is just a game"!! It is beautiful (in a bitter sense) because it helps us cope with our distraught, temporal emotional state at the face of our defeat. But that doesn't mean it's right to completely erase off reality & forget our past mistakes or past hurt.

"it is a perfect denial" of the truth that this is life & for god's sake, Life is NOT an illusion. It's an illusion for those losers who wanna escape reality and/or undermine the winners.

And then...when you can't face the world glaring at you (or when you can't meet your responsibilities in your work/ private life), you become increasingly desperate & again try to evade reality by reminding urself "its just a game" OR by taking to addictions.

The loser's spirit & their revelling in "its just a game" lie can be metaphorically compared to the state of euphoria reached by drug abusers (both trying to fake happiness). This it can be a beautiful feeling but an assault on your mind & a LIE after all.

P.S. This is just my own interpretation.

My Interpretation

the truth is always hurting :(

@Kruppz We separated from source during birth and created our own illusions (matrix ) mixed with others illusions.( matrix) "It's a beautiful lie."
Life is but a dream. A game cuz you are not you. You are not your ego/name/image and you are not your own thoughts or the vessel/body. You are a reflection of light ..you are a divine soul. All their songs are about ego/soul. And every other artists songs.