OfPonderingWandering

The simplest and most powerful reminder is: one day, you will die. Memento Mori, Latin for, ‘Remember Death’ is a powerful philosophy that is rooted within Stoicism. As we begin to accept and bring Memento Mori into our life, the quality of our life will deeply improve.  

One of humanity’s greatest sins is that we misinterpret the world and objects in the world as constant and never changing. Be it material possessions, relationships, concepts, or the self. We assume that these things will last forever, when in reality, they are merely transient and are beyond our control. Yet, despite this fact, when things in our life inevitably leave, we are filled with intense grief that can show up in various ways, such as avoidance, anger, sadness, or through numbing activities. Think of your first heartbreak—when we are young and naive, we believe our first love will last forever. However, fortunately for us, the practice of Memento Mori allows us to begin to process our innate transience. 

Death as a duty 

In our society, we treat death and aging as taboo. We shy away from the fact that time will have its effect on us, which will ultimately culminate in our death. We watch media that tends to depict death as occurring solely to the ‘bad guys.’ While we buy products that claim to keep the natural process of aging at bay. Despite this, we still age, we still die. To the Stoics, death is a central duty of living. To stoics like Seneca, birth is seen as a grace bestowed upon by Fortune. With the caveat that one day, you will return to where you come from. That fact, death, is an unavoidable part of the deal with Fortune. 

Building on this fact, if death is given to all living beings. Then what do we do with our life? In modern times, I imagine the consensus to be, ‘live as long as possible!’ Which is hidden under layers of repression. However, for the Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius, he states, 

‘Even if you’re going to live three thousand more years, or ten times that, remember: you cannot lose another life than the one you’re living now, or live another one than the one you’re losing.’

Even if we are to live for thousands of years, meaning is not given to our life, for we are still losing the life we are currently living. Then what do we do? 

Live Each Day to Its Fullest. 

We could die today, we could die tomorrow, or we could die in three thousand years. Our death is certain, yet its timing is not. Hence, we must seek to live each day to its fullest. For it could very well be our last! This insight serves as the waking call of Memento Mori. 

To live a full day, is to fully experience all the day has to offer. This includes the bad, the good, and the neutral. Memento Mori promotes fully living in the present, regardless of our circumstances, to seize opportunity that comes by, and to lead a life of quality, rather than quantity. This leads us to a powerful shift in our mindset.

The Memento Mori Mindset. 

When we consider each day as our last, we empower ourselves to make better choices throughout the day. It may even be the secret to balancing the never ending puzzling of managing our work/life/social/etc. 

Reaching Balance 

Modern life demands productivity, because of this, we find ourselves overworked, swamped with deadlines and increasing to-do lists. While I do hope to write about productivity one day, Memento Mori provides us with an interesting perspective into this problem. 

While I am not advocating for you to do the bare minimum, or nothing at all. I do wish for you to remember the fact that one day you will die. That if you set and meet your work quota for today, that when the clock strikes 5pm, you take the time to enjoy what is truly yours, the life you are living. For it is a diminishing resource. 

Furthermore, we should remember to always say ‘yes’ to living a fulfilling life in the face of death. This means, we need to learn to say ‘No’ more. To set boundaries with other people, with our work, and to commitments we don’t truly care for. As we could die tonight, and if we don’t learn to say no, it may unfortunately be on a zoom call or completing a task we never truly wanted to do.

Even then, sometimes we must rise to the occasion and wash the dishes for the thousandth time, while agreeing to work overtime for our overworked team. Fortunately, Memento Mori has an answer for this too. 

A Sense of Finality. 

Nothing lasts forever, the dishes will be clean, maybe you will retire, certainly you will die. Death brings a time when we will never do again, we will only be. Life imposes a limit on even the harshest or most numerous of tasks. Because of this, we can find beauty in even the most mundane things, or within our interactions with other people With this in mind, we can begin to fully wash the dishes, with intentionality and presence, leaving no crumbs behind, and finishing the job. 

This sense of finality allows us to redefine our sense of appreciation, not only with our dishes, but with other human beings too. We can see a powerful example of this in Aurelius’ Meditations where he honestly states, ‘As you tuck your son into bed, whisper to yourself, “He may be dead in the morning.’ While some say this may be morbid or tempting fate, what Aurelius is really doing is calling us to presence. For even our loved ones, and friends will one day cease to exist. There is no forever in this life, only transience. Yet, we can find peace within this fact. 

It is through intentionality, mindset, and focusing our attention that we can begin to live life fully. With this, comes compassion, kindness, and empathy, which must extend not only to ourselves, but towards other human beings as well. When we are on our deathbeds, it is not the amount of years that we will reflect on. Rather, we will reflect on how fully, mindfully, and lovingly we lived.