Tasting Death —3 Effective Ways to Practice Memento Mori
Start recognizing the ticking of clocks as a marching cadence towards death. Stop wasting time and wake the f*ck up with 3 effective methods to Memento Mori (Latin for Remember Death for those who don’t know).
Warning: Death.
Memento Mori Misleads
Abstract contemplation of death doesn’t work well. As an emotional creature, you need stressful situations to tell your lizard brain the impending inevitability of your nonexistence. Death is the best motivator if you can feel it, taste it (don’t taste a dead body, that’s nasty, though grilled steak tastes great). I detailed 3 effective practices to tell your lizard brain to that you’ll die.
1. “The best preparation for life is to write a beautiful poem everyday, then to throw it away.” Kurt Vonnegut
Each loss is a death of a relationship with a friend, pet, or possession. And you can get a nibble of death by throwing away a small poem. While hard at first, it’s a consistent way to familiarize yourself with inevitable loss.
2. Face Your Fears
I had a personal experience with Memento Mori this past summer when I faced my fear of rock climbing outside. It forced me to accept my powerlessness over death. On the face of it: I risked my life. On the other side: I realized life’s impermanence.
You don’t need to rock climb to feel life’s impermanence: you can do anything you’re scared to do. Fear and pain wakes up your brain to move into action.
3. Appreciate Aliveness When Sickness Strikes
My past stint with illness serves as an example of how you can appreciate life and remember death when you fall ill:
I used to pride myself on never falling ill. Then sickness struck in June when I contracted sun poisoning and a severe respiratory infection (I suspect Covid-19, though I tested negative).
Sun Poisoning gave me a high fever which made me delirious. Full-on derealization blindsided me while road-tripping through nowhereville on US interstate 80. Nothing felt real, the steering wheel felt far away, I couldn’t believe I was driving a car. I somehow managed to steer my vehicle to what seemed like a pull off area. I found a thermometer and read my temperature at 104 Fahrenheit (40 Celsius). I called an ambulance to check on me and they cleared me to go on my way: “you’re fine, get yourself an ice cream cone at Little America”, the EMT barked at me. I recovered hours later, and managed to get ice cream. Illness, like death, can strike at any moment, and illness is nothing but a transitory state between vitality and nonexistence. I was sick of being sick, but being sick wasn’t done with me.
I soon contracted a respiratory infection accompanied by a coughing fit (lasting 15 seconds every other minute for 2 weeks). I upgraded from Equate to Ricola cough drops, then from 10 to 100 mg of cough suppressant (white wrappers littered my car). I tried to meditate but the coughing interrupted my concentration. I couldn’t control the one thing I thought I could: my breath. The situation made me realize my powerlessness.
Stints of sickness serve as a wake up call to action: we must take advantage of our time alive because we’ll never know when we’ll die or when sickness will strike.
Death Sentence
The Grim Reaper won’t tell you the end.