Zorba the Greek poses a key question:
Look, I was passing through a small village one day. An old fogey ninety years old was planting an almond tree. ‘Hey, grandpa,’ I say to him, ‘are you really planting an almond tree?’ And he, all bent over as he was, he turns and says to me, ‘My boy, I act as though I’m never going to die.’ I answered him in my turn, ‘I act as though I’m going to die at any moment.’ Which of the two of us was right, Boss?””
You certainly want to keep death in the forefront of your mind. You can easily forget that the future is not guaranteed. You can easily trade the present moment for an uncertain future. As Marcus Aurelius stated so succinctly:
You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.
But this does not mean that you forego planning for the future entirely. You do not know when your death will come, and you may be blessed (or cursed) with a long life. It would be a mistake to ignore the future in your calculations.
This is the dichotomy between memento mori and the need to consider the future. You want to adopt a middle road, if you can find it. Plan and invest as if you’re going to live forever (plant that tree, continue to invest in learning). At the same time, keep your death firmly focused in mind. Enjoy the present – for that is all that you are ever really given.
One perspective cannot be allowed to dominate the other.
References
- Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
- A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine
As Seneca notes, “If God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts.”4 And after celebrating having been given another day to live, we can fill that day with appreciative living.