I thought it would be best to explain the meaning behind my chosen icon in my first post. “Memento mori” is a Latin phrase which translated to English means, “Remember you must die.” This phrase has grown in popularity in recent years online and personally has meant a lot to me, allow me to express why.
History:
First, I feel it is important to explain where the phrase comes from in order to understand the point of it. This phrase has no one individual which is credited for come up with the phrase. However, what is known about its origin is that it comes from the Roman philosophical tradition. More specifically, it is linked with the ideas of Stoicism. Stoicism is a philosophical school of thought which states that virtue is only good and that humans should live in accordance with nature, God, and each other. Those subjects will perhaps be explored another time. Another aspect which is more integral to the discussion is that stoicism seems to have a large emphasize on death. Now at first this may seem morbid especially when reading some of the stoic literature. For example, “When giving your child or wife a kiss, repeat to yourself, ‘I am kissing a mortal.’” (Epictetus) This seems like a very bleak way to think of someone whom you love but, I think put into the right light this way of thinking which uses the same predicable of “Remember you must die.” can actually be uplifting.
Argumentation:
So why would someone want to be reminded of death, theirs’s or another’s? Is it a practice meant to remind yourself not to get attached? This is a popular interpretation which I think comes from a bias or misunderstanding of the ideas. My main reason for believing that it is a misunderstanding of the fundamentals of stoic thought is that detaching from others makes it impossible to be able to live in accordance with others. In the understanding that virtue is the highest form of good, and therefore being able to practice virtue is a worthy pursuit. Then removing oneself from society would seem to make being able to practice all the virtutes hard. If we are being realist, then “No man is an island” therefore the guidelines of living should not tell us how to remove ourselves mentally from those closest, but instead encourage us to live a rational life in harmony with those around us. So finally, here is my interpretation of the phrases.
My Thoughts:
Death is scary because like most fears there is uncertainty. As humans, we cannot be sure of what will happen after death. whether it is a black void or there is an afterlife. Noone can have certainty, only that there will come a day when those who we love will die and that we ourselves will face the same black curtain. But what this statement does is remind us of the truth and ask us to live according to the reality of death. One day we will no longer be alive so while we still are alive how will we live. When we think about the finite amount of time, we have left we should be inspired to do something worthy with it. Everyone dies but not everyone lives. Make the most of it. Kiss who you love, remembering that you will not have an eternity on earth to spend time with them and so you should take what time you have with them and spend it well. People are not willing to give up most things they own, but when it comes to our time on earth, we freely give it away. We give our time to apps, to work, and pursuits which lead to nothing. Now, I want to be clear it is okay to spend time on things which we enjoy and take pleasure in, but as long as we are aware of the time spent. The phrase is not saying you have to lead the perfect life and never waste a second or do something less than optimized, but what it is saying is that we should take care to evaluate the lives we lead and the hierarchy which we give to things in our lives. We have limited time, and it is ticking even now so the question is what will we do with it? Because “Remember you must die.”
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed and got something worth your time out of it.