Accept Death as Ever Present

How Stoic Philosophy Teaches Us to Live

If nothing else, death is a constant reminder of the fragility of life. It is a reminder of our existence and the time we have. Through death, we are reminded of why life is so valuable. But the hardest pill to swallow is that we, like everything else in life, must pass.

This is an abstract concept, we’re here one moment and then in the blink of an eye we’re not. There is no escape, no avoidance, no prevention. We will die. And on the face of it, that is extremely bleak. It leads some to live a hedonistic lifestyle while others turn to existential nihilism, asking what is the point in anything if we’re just going to die? The Stoics, however, viewed death as a natural succession to life, an event like any other which must occur and cannot be denied.

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself:

“Death, like birth, is just a natural process, material elements combining, growing, decaying and finally separating and completely dispersing.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.5

ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE

The Stoics knew to accept what life was. They understood that we are born into this world and will one day leave it. But it is through our actions, what we do between birth and death, which is…