The Idea
Contributed by @philhagspiel | Edited and curated by @philhagspiel
Reminding yourself of your own death can give meaning to your life today.
Memento Mori is a Latin phrase meaning 'remember you must die.'
One day, we all die. What sounds obvious often isn't in our minds. We tacitly assume that we will live forever — that we will have enough time to do what we want to do or to tell someone what we want to tell them. While we fear death when we think about it, we act like immortals in what we desire and do.
But our finiteness is the only truly certain thing we know of. We simply don't know when our time will be over — it might be later or sooner than we expect. But it will be.
This finiteness gives meaning to what we do today. It adds a sense of urgency to paying attention to what matters — because we won't have infinitely more opportunities to do so.
We might thus use death as the ultimate reminder of that how we spend our time every day is what matters.
"I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it."
— Epictetus
"Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Explore
➞ Start with this video to get a quick understanding about the value of being mindful of your own mortality.
➞ Watch this video section and fully feel the inspirational power of 'Memento Mori'.
➞ If you want to understand how Eastern religions and traditions make us of death reminders, read this section on Wikipedia.
Resources
If this idea resonates with you, some of these resources might add value to your life.
Link | NAME | Format | Author |
---|---|---|---|
Conscious | Book | Annaka Harris | |
Sum - Forty Tales From The Afterlives | Book | David Eagleman | |
Happy | Book | Derren Brown | |
The Power Of Now | Book | Eckhart Tolle | |
Siddharta | Book | Hermann Hesse | |
The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, And Joy | Book | John Brehm | |
The Little Book Of Stoicism | Book | Jonas Salzgeber | |
The Prophet | Book | Khalil Gibran | |
Tao Te Ching | Book | Lao Tzu | |
Dao De Jing | Book | Laozi | |
Meditations | Book | Marcus Aurelius | |
The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck | Book | Mark Manson | |
Courage | Book | Osho | |
The Obstacle Is The Way | Book | Ryan Holiday | |
Ego Is The Enemy | Book | Ryan Holiday | |
Waking Up | Book | Sam Harris | |
Great Thinkers | Book | The School Of Life | |
Happiness | Book | Thich Nhat Hanh | |
Man's Search For Meaning | Book | Viktor E. Frankl | |
The Story Of Philosophy | Book | Will Durant | |
Zhuangzi | Book | Zhuang Zhou | |
Modern Wisdom | Podcast | Chris Williamson | |
Lex Fridman Podcast | Podcast | Lex Fridman | |
The “What Is Money?” Show | Podcast | Robert Breedlove | |
The Daily Stoic | Podcast | Ryan Holiday | |
Podcast | Stephen West | ||
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Einzelgänger | YouTube Channel | ||
Daily Stoic | YouTube Channel | ||
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Blog | Leo Babauta | ||
The School Of Life: Eastern Philosophy | Blog | ||
Waking Up | App | ||
Daily Stoic | Instagram |