One day, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next year, maybe in 20 years, you won’t exist. I won’t exist. That means no more thoughts, no more memories, no more of anything.
Why Do I Often Think About Death
Death is a strange subject to write about, it’s even stranger to think about, and it’s quite a daunting thought when you’re lying in bed trying to sleep and all you can think of is how one day you won’t be here. I don’t mean physically not here, I mean mentally.
I often find myself in thought about how one minute my brain is on overload thinking about all the different things that I could do and then all of a sudden I think about how on earth it’s possible to be thinking all these things one minute and the next nothing.
There are more people dead in this world than alive.
Why is it that the human brain can be functioning and alive and the next minute its gone.
It’s Good To Contemplate Death
Memento Mori is a Stoic saying that means you should remember you’re mortal. That you too will die one day.
It reminds us that you shouldn’t waste time, to make the most of the short time you’ve been given and to encourage others to do the same.
A wasted life is a life not lived. There’s something to be said about this current generation, afraid to go outside, afraid to talk to other people and offended by every little thing.
By worrying about everything you miss out on so much.
Why do I often think about death? Stoicism teaches us that to be Stoic you must remember Memento Mori, remember that one day you will die and you won’t know when. It’s good to contemplate death because that’s what drives us to do more, be a better person and love the people you have around you.
Ryan Holiday says that having a reminder that you will die one day is thought invigorating and humbling. Having that looming over you shouldn’t be something that holds you back, it should be something that inspires you to do more, because tomorrow you might not have that chance.
It Still Scares The Shit Out Of Me
That being said, the idea of death still scares the shit out of me.
For anyone interested in Podcasts I regularly listen to Lex Fridmans Podcast. On it he interviews people who are experts in different fields and he asks the same question towards the end of the interview each time, “are you afraid of death’.
The most common answer I’ve heard so far is “no”. Which baffles the hell out of me.
I don’t know whether it’s a side effect from playing too many computer games, but I can’t stand the idea of not knowing what happens after I’m gone. Why would you not want to know that your friends and family have gone on to enjoy happy lives, what they did and what they got up to. Instead you’ll just die and people will move on, remembering you every now and again until the last person who remembers you passes away too. Forgotten to history.
Except most of us will be just a death statistic.
How can these people on Lex’s show not be scared of dying, scared of missing loved ones and no longer being part of their lives.
Unless they’re lying and they’re scared shitless like me.
Memento Mori is a great way to remind yourself that life ends and that you should cherish what you have whilst you have it. I don’t think it’s a tool that’s used to embrace, or not be afraid of death. For me personally I don’t think anything could ever remove that fear.