Do Not Avoid This Thought

In his new book, The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene concludes his final chapter with this meditation on mortality:“Many of us spend our lives avoiding the thought of death. Instead the inevitability of death should be continually on our minds. Understanding the shortness of life fills us with a sense of purpose and urgency to realize our goals. Training ourselves to confront and accept this reality makes it easier to manage the inevitable setbacks, separations, and crises in life. It gives us a sense of proportion, of what really matters in this brief existence of ours. Most people continually look for ways to separate themselves from others and feel superior. Instead we must see the mortality in everyone, how it equalizes and connects us all. By becoming deeply aware of our mortality, we intensify our experience of every aspect of life.” In short, memento mori. Every aspect of the human experience, every moment in human evolution, Robert reminds us, has been shaped by death. Without death, we would not be here (there would be no room!). Without death, we’d have nothing to eat. We’d have nothing to live for. All of the greatest moments in human history occur in the shadow of death: glory on the battlefield; enduring artistic achievement; parental sacrifice. Moreover, these moments were produced by people for whom death was far less removed from daily existence than it is today. Plagues, infant mortality, lack of sanitation or antibiotics, they all meant that death was ever present in the lives of men and women, ordinary or otherwise. Death is central to who we are as a species and who we are as people. To deny it is not only to live in ignorance, but to deny oneself the benefits that Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus spoke of so often:You could leave life right now, let that determine what you do and say and think. Is there better advice than this? If so, it has yet to be written. Keep it close. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Do not avoid this thought. In his new book, The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene concludes his final chapter with this meditation on mortality. "Many of us spend our lives avoiding the thought of death. Instead, the inevitability of death should be continually on our minds. Understanding the shortness of life fills

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  us with a sense of purpose and urgency to realize our goals. Training ourselves to confront and accept this reality makes it easier to manage the inevitable setbacks, separations, and crises in life. It gives us a sense of proportion of what really matters in this brief existence of ours. Most people continually look for ways to separate themselves from other people and feel superior. Instead, we must see the mortality in everyone, how it equalizes and connects us. By becoming deeply aware of our mortality, we intensify our experience of every aspect of life." In short, Robert is saying, "Memento Mori."

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  Every aspect of the human experience, every moment in human evolution, Robert reminds us, has been shaped by death. Without death, we would not be here. There would be no room. Without death, we'd have nothing to eat. We'd have nothing to live for. All of the greatest moments in human history occurred in the shadow of death: glory on the battlefield, enduring artistic achievement, parental sacrifice. Moreover, these moments were produced by people for whom death was far less removed from daily existence than it is today: plagues, infant mortality, lack of sanitation or antibiotics. They all meant that death was ever-present in the lives of men and women.

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  Ordinary or otherwise, death is central to who we are as a species and who we are as people. To deny it is not only to live in ignorance, but to deny oneself the benefits that Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus spoke of so often. "You could leave life right now," they said. "Let that determine what you do and say and think." Is there better advice than this? If so, it has yet to be written. Keep it close. And again, if you found that line from Marcus Aurelius to be powerful, that you could leave life right now, let that determine what you do and say and think, our memento mori medallion

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  and our memento mori pendant both feature it on the reverse side. The front is the sort of memento mori imagery, the hourglass, the skull, the flower. Thousands of people all over the world now carry them, professional athletes, world-class writers, philosophers, and everyday people. If you want to check them out, you can just go to dailystoic.com/store.