Memento Mori
Memento Mori. “Remember that you will die.” In Meditations Marcus Aurelius wrote “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” That was a personal reminder to continue living a life of virtue NOW, and not wait. The French painter Philippe de Champaigne expressed a similar sentiment in his painting “Still Life with a Skull,” which showed the three essentials of existence - the tulip (life), the skull (death), and the hourglass (time). This is only depressing if you miss the point. These are timeless reminders to create real perspective and urgency. To treat our time as a gift and not waist it on the trivial and vain. Death doesn’t make life pointless but rather purposeful. And fortunately, we don’t have to nearly die to tap into this. A simple reminder can bring us closer to living the life we want. “You could leave life right now” -
via @dailystoic
https://dailystoic.com/memento-mori/