On a Long-Enough Timeline, We Are All Blips

Here’s an interesting exercise. Pull up a Spotify playlist for hits from the ‘90s. Or turn on a satellite radio station built around that time. As you listen to the songs, note how many you recognize and how many you’ve never heard of. Now go back an era or two and do the same thing for the ‘80s or for the second wave of classic rock. Then do it again for real oldies. As you keep going backwards, the familiarity will fall further and further away until you’ve heard none of the “hit” songs before—and all the “famous” names sound strange or even made up. The point of this stroll through music history is not nostalgia or even about discovering some forgotten greats. It’s a reminder of how ephemeral we all are. How fleeting fame and life is. As Marcus Aurelius writes:Words once in common use now sound archaic. And the names of the famous dead as well: Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, Dentatus... Scipio and Cato... Augustus... Hadrian and Antoninus and..everything fades so quickly, turns into legend and soon oblivion covers it. He points out something that is worth noting about the music we just flipped through as well: The names we no longer recognize are the most famous ones, the ones who shone for at least a few minutes. The vast majority of people, of art that’s made, of events that happen, are “unknown, unasked-for" and don’t even get this. They were not even blips, they were less than blips. The lesson from this, as with so many Stoic lessons, is humility. We are not nearly as important as we think we are—and even if we are important, the passage of time is an unforgiving leveler. The other lesson is about priorities. If all fame is fleeting, if even the most accomplished and most influential—the writers of the biggest hits and the owners of the greatest songs of their time—are eventually forgotten, why chase it? Why let it make you miserable—why let getting it make you miserable, or not having it make you miserable? Why not focus on right now? On living the life you have as best you can? 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. On a long enough timeline, we are all blips. Here is an interesting exercise: Pull up a Spotify playlist for hits from the 90s, or turn on a satellite radio station built around that time period. As you listen to the songs, note how many you recognize and how many you've never heard of. Now go back an era or two and do the same thing for the

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  80s, or for the second wave of classic rock. Then do it again for real oldies. As you keep going backwards, the familiarity will fall further and further away until you've heard none of the hit songs before, and all the famous names sound strange or even made up. The point of this stroll through music history is not nostalgia, or even about discovering some forgotten greats. It's a reminder of how ephemeral we all are, how fleeting fame and life is. As Marcus Aurelius writes, "Words once in common use now sound archaic," and

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  the names of the famous dead as well: Camillus, Cassio, Volsus, Dantatus, Cipio, Encato, Augustus, Hadrian, and Antoninus. And everything fades so quickly, turns into legend, and soon oblivion covers it. He points out something that is worth noting about the music we just flipped through as well: "The names we no longer recognize are the most famous ones, the ones who've shone for at least a few minutes. The vast majority of people, of art that's made, of events that happen, are unknown, unasked for, and don't even get this: they are not even blips." They were less than blips.

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  The lesson from this, as with so many Stoic lessons, is humility. We are not nearly as important as we think we are. And even if we are important, the passage of time is an unforgiving leveller. The other lesson is about priorities. If all fame is fleeting, if even the most accomplished and most influential, the writers of the biggest hits and the owners of the greatest songs of their time, are eventually forgotten, why chase it? Why let it make you miserable? Why let getting it make you miserable or not having it make you miserable? Why not focus on right now, on living the life you have as best you can? Memento Mori, remember death, remember you are mortal. Or as Marcus Aurelius said, "You could leave life right now.

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  Let that determine what you do and say and think." I actually wear this reminder in a signet ring on my finger, one of the most ancient and, I think, meaningful forms of jewelry there is. I wear it on my right ring finger. And we now make a Memento Mori signet ring in the Daily Stoic store. You can check it out at dailystoic.com/store.