Death Is Waiting For Us All

Death is waiting for us all but we should not despair, instead, we should accept it and appreciate nature for what it is. Without death, do you think you would be alive? Do you think that the earth has enough material to sustain all livings that have lived since the dawn of time? Life needed material to wash off the old and create the new. Soon enough, your turn will come too and death will recycle you back into nature. Your spirit? gone. Your body? gone. Muscles, bone, joints, nerves, arteries all gone — just recycled material. Instead of dreading your last moments here, appreciate what was given to you for if death did not exist, life would not either.

Remember it so that you can detach yourself from your desires, impulses and constant pursuit of short-term gratification. What use would it be anyways? As Robert Green writes so beautifully about it: "It gives us a sense of proportion, of what really matters in this brief existence of ours… by becoming deeply aware of our mortality, we intensify our experience of every aspect of life."

Here is an idea for you in three simple steps.

Step 1: Estimate life expectancy.

Step 2: Subtract your age to that number.

Step 3: On every birthday celebrate how much time you have left (but remember… you could have even less!)

For me, I have 44 years left as I am writing this. Do I want to spend it rolling in bed? Playing videogames? Arguing with my loved ones? Or even worse, arguing with the stranger who does not know right from wrong? Is egotistical hedonism my philosophy? Reminding myself of death helps me refocus my attention on the only thing that matters: How I act NOW. How do I want to act? I want to act with the four stoic virtues: Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice.