Philosophers Series · Part 2 of 12
Stoicism: Memento Mori as a Daily Practice
“Remember that you are mortal.” For the Stoics, this was not a gloomy warning but a tool for living better. Part 2 of our Philosophers Series.
A philosophy for everyday life
The Stoa emerged around 300 BC in Athens. Its founder, Zeno of Citium, taught in a painted colonnade, the “Stoa Poikile”, which gave the school its name. The best-known Stoics are the Romans: Seneca, philosopher and politician; Epictetus, who was born a slave; and the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
They cared less about theory than about practice: How do I live well, calmly and justly?
What is up to us
Epictetus opens his Handbook with a distinction that still helps millions of people. Some things are up to us: our judgments, our intentions, our actions. Others are not: our body, our possessions, our reputation.
Apply this to the question of what remains of us, and it gets interesting. How you will be remembered is not up to you. What you think, do and write down is.
The evening review
Seneca describes a practice he adopted from the philosopher Sextius. Every evening, once the house had gone quiet, he examined his day: Which bad habit did I cure today? Which fault did I resist? In what way am I better?
Marcus Aurelius’s “Meditations” are nothing but notes of this kind, written to himself. You could put it this way: the Stoics were journal writers.
Memento mori
The thought of death was the backdrop to these exercises. Whoever keeps in mind that time is limited postpones less, argues less about trivia and is more likely to say what needs to be said.
The logical conclusion
The Stoic legacy is not reputation but character. And character is built through daily practice. The evening review is the Stoic answer to the question of what remains: every day it makes you a little more the person you want to be. And along the way it creates a record of a consciously lived life – the only part of how you’ll be remembered that is truly up to you.
Three questions to think further
- In what way did you become a little better today?
- What are you angry about even though it isn’t up to you?
- What would you do differently if you reminded yourself of your mortality every morning?