Simple Stoic Advice
A natural progression
A natural progression
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.12:
Quote
“And what dying is — and that if you look at it in the abstract and break down your imaginary ideas of it by logical analysis, you realize that it’s nothing but a process of nature which only children can be afraid of. (And not only a process of nature but a necessary one.)”
Advice
Death was a common topic amongst the Stoics. Seneca often reflected upon the act of dying whereas Marcus wrote and reflected about his place in the greater whole of the universe and how he would return to it via death.
To die was a natural progression of life. You often see the Stoics reference that dying is just a necessary part of nature. For those who deny the fact that death awaits all are not living a good life as they neglect reality.
Epictetus, taking what some consider a harsh stand on the topic, states:
“ If you kiss your child, or brother, or friend . . . you must remind yourself that you love a mortal, and that nothing that you love is your very own; it is given you for the moment, not forever nor inseparably, but like a fig or a bunch of grapes at the appointed season of the year, and if you long for it in winter you are a fool. So too if you long for your son or your friend, when it is not given you to have him, know that you are longing for a fig in winter time.”
To combat the logic that death is bad or unnatural, the Stoics leaned into death and reminded themselves of it continuously. In the Meditations, Marcus, writing toward the end of his life, constantly reflects on the fact that he would soon leave life and be returned to what once produced him:
“Think often on the swiftness with which the things that exist and that are coming into existence are swept past us and carried out of sight. For all substance is as a river in ceaseless flow, its activities ever changing and its causes subject to countless variations, and scarcely anything stable”
While the thought of losing a loved one is scary and painful, it is an inevitable fact that is heavier due to us often neglecting the reality that death can, and will come — and it will do so when fate decides, not necessarily when we decide.
The Stoics therefore held to the phrase “memento mori” which translates roughly to “remember death” or “remember you are mortal”.
In the grand scheme of the universe, our lives are just a speck of sand in an endless sea of them. Remembering this helped the Stoics to bring their attention back to the present and make the most of their remaining time.
To paraphrase Marcus Aurelius, if there is something after this life, we will learn of it when we pass, if there isn’t, we will never know the difference.
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