💀 Dying Every Day
The Dying Every Day series delivers guided meditations on the art of living. Each meditation provides a quote, a selected passage (from an original Stoic text), and a reflection prompt to consider. These meditations are designed to help you (and me) reflect on what it means to live a good life.
“Every Day is a Step”
“Why fear your last day? It does no more to advance you toward death than any other day did. The last step does not cause your fatigue; it reveals your fatigue. Every day is a step toward death. The last one arrives there.”
— Montaigne, To Philosophize is to Learn to Die
Selected Passage
In this week’s meditation, we explore the art of living (and dying) through a selected reading from Seneca.
We can formulate general rules and commit them to writing regarding what is usually done or ought to be done; such advice may be given not only to our absent friends but also to succeeding generations. Regarding the question—when or how your plan is to be carried out—no one will advise at long range; we must take counsel in the presence of the actual situation.
If you want to avail yourself of the fleeting opportunity, you must be present in body and watchful in mind. Accordingly, look around you for the opportunity; if you see it, grasp it, and devote yourself with all your energy and strength to this task—to rid yourself of those business duties. …
A man has caught the message of wisdom if he can die as free from care as he was at birth, but as it is, we are all a-flutter at the approach of the dreaded end. Our courage fails us, our cheeks blanch and our tears fall, though they are unavailing. But what is baser than to fret at the very threshold of peace?
The reason, however, is that we are stripped of all our goods, we have jettisoned our cargo of life, and we are in distress; for no part of it has been packed in the hold; it has all been heaved overboard and has drifted away. Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long; although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, it is within no man’s power to live long. Farewell.
+ Adapted from On the Futility of Half-Way Measures
Reflection Exercise
Consider journaling on the value of a day: Are some days more important than others? What would make one day more valuable than another? The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy observed, “Remember that there is only one important time, and it is —Now! The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” Does that make today the most important day of your life?
—
Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. If you’re interested in becoming a member but cannot afford it, feel free to request a complimentary membership or use this discount link.