The Power of Memento Mori: Contemplating your Own Death
“Consider Yourself to be dead, and to have completed your life up to the present time; and live, according to nature, the remainder that is allowed to you.” — Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
What if you could die and live again? What if you could beat the odds and have another chance at life? What if you could change your life right now?
The quote above from the emperor Marcus Aurelius made me skip a night of sleep. I have a strange and unique relationship with Marcus Aurelius, since I first watched “Gladiator” I liked the old man writing at his desk in the frozen forests of the Rhine. Then I came across a statue of him in Viena’s History Museum. To be there, comtenplating a two thousand year marble sculpture of one of the most powerful man that this Earth has ever seen made me put many things in perspective.
A couple of weeks ago I started reading “Meditations”, I had been putting this on hold for years, but I finally found the time for seating with Marcus and learn Stoicism with the great master.
This book, written 2000 years ago is the most lasting and important heritage that Marcus left to the world. Even his conquest in the Western Rhine seem pale in comparison with the content written while on the forefront of war.
But what makes “Meditations” such an incredible book is that we are talking about lessons of humility, reverance to life and nature, clear thinking and trust by a man who was the most powerful man in the world. He could say to a soldier to cut someone’s throat and that would be done. He could do as he pleased. He could have indulged in luxury and vices and still he decided to write, to think and to teach us the benefits of moderation and a stoic life.
To keep reading, get the article at João's website >>
Marcus AureliusMeditations
What if you could die and live again? What if you could beat the odds and have another chance at life? What if you could change your life right now?
The quote above from the emperor Marcus Aurelius made me skip a night of sleep. I have a strange and unique relationship with Marcus Aurelius, since I first watched “Gladiator” I liked the old man writing at his desk in the frozen forests of the Rhine. Then I came across a statue of him in Viena’s History Museum. To be there, comtenplating a two thousand year marble sculpture of one of the most powerful man that this Earth has ever seen made me put many things in perspective.
A couple of weeks ago I started reading “Meditations”, I had been putting this on hold for years, but I finally found the time for seating with Marcus and learn Stoicism with the great master.
This book, written 2000 years ago is the most lasting and important heritage that Marcus left to the world. Even his conquest in the Western Rhine seem pale in comparison with the content written while on the forefront of war.
But what makes “Meditations” such an incredible book is that we are talking about lessons of humility, reverance to life and nature, clear thinking and trust by a man who was the most powerful man in the world. He could say to a soldier to cut someone’s throat and that would be done. He could do as he pleased. He could have indulged in luxury and vices and still he decided to write, to think and to teach us the benefits of moderation and a stoic life.
To keep reading, get the article at João's website >>
Marcus AureliusMeditations
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