Stoicism for a Better Life – Weekly exercise (March 8, 2020)

Hello there,

For this exercise, let us look at some words from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations II 11:

“Let each thing you would do, say or intend be like that of a dying person.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as much as I love Epictetus’ words for their humour and sarcasm, I love and appreciate Marcus Aurelius’ words for their brevity and bluntness. After all, the man had to rule an empire. He didn’t have time to mince words even when he was checking-in with himself in his journal.

You know how they say “There are two things for certain in life: death and taxes!” Well, they are wrong. There are many people who don’t pay taxes: tribes who still live the old fashioned life, indigenous people who have been given a tax-exempt status, military personnel in most countries, and of course, the super-rich who already have all the money in the world and yet still don’t pay taxes because….because ‘Merica and capitalism. So no…taxes are not a sure thing, but death…now that is an inescapable prospect for anyone.

As Edmund Wilson said “Death is one prophecy that never fails.” We know this, yet we live our lives ignorant of this fact. We conveniently forget this. And so we worry about all the wrong things, focus on the worst things, and neglect the most important things. For this exercise, let’s look specifically at the effort we give in anything we do. Since time is so precious and limited, our approach to life should not be “do as much as I can” (quantity) but rather, “whatever I do, let me take the time to do it to the best of my abilities” (quality).

So this week, in everything you do, remind yourself that it might very literally be the last thing you do…so give it the attention and quality (your best) that it deserves. Life is not a race to live as much as possible or to do as much as possible. Our pursuit is that of virtue, which is the (pursuit of) perfection of our efforts, judgments and actions in the present moment. Let the knowledge that what you are doing right now might very well be the last time you get to do it, to motivate you into doing it as well as you can. Give it the attention it deserves (no matter how mundane you think it is) as if this is the last thing/effort/speech you will be leaving behind to the rest of us as a gift. 

As always, I wish you a wise, tranquil and productive week. If you can, share how you are progressing with your exercise. Your journey may very well inspire others. 

Anderson Silver

(Author of “Your User’s Manual” and “Vol 2: Your Duality Within”)