To us moderns this sounds like an awful idea. The essayist Michel de Montaigne, for instance, was fond of an ancient Egyptian custom where during times of festivities, a skeleton would be brought out with people cheering “Drink and be merry for when you’re dead you will look like this.” Others were invented to inspire zest for life. Some, like the aide behind the general, were there to humble. Throughout history, Memento Mori reminders have come in many forms. Such reminders and exercises take part of Memento Mori-the ancient practice of reflection on mortality that goes back to Socrates, who said that the proper practice of philosophy is “about nothing else but dying and being dead.” In early Buddhist texts, a prominent term is maraṇasati, which translates as ‘remember death.’ Some Sufis have been called the “people of the graves,” because of their practice of frequenting graveyards to ponder on death and one’s mortality. And there is one simple fact that most of us are utterly scared to meditate, reflect on and face head on: We are going to die. Or, we are simply petrified to look at life’s facts as they are. Most often, our ego runs away from anything that reminds us of the reality that sits at odds with the comfortable narrative we have build for ourselves.
It is reminders like this one that we desperately need in our own lives-a thought or an idea that we’d rather ignore, do everything to avoid and pretend is not true. Only a few would notice the aide in the back, right behind the commander, whispering into his ear, “Remember, thou art mortal.” What a reminder to hear at the peak of glory and victory! … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” SenecaĪt a Roman triumph, the majority of the public would have their eyes glued to the victorious general at the front-one of the most coveted spots during Roman times. “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life.
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