We are born once and cannot be born twice, but we must be no more for all time. Not being master of tomorrow, you nonetheless delay your happiness. Life is consumed by procrastination, and each of us dies without providing leisure for himself.
- Epicurus, the 14th Vatican Saying
The topic of death has been playing on my mind recently. I have blogged about death previously, but my most recent post, combined with the blog entry of a friend, has motivated me to revisit the topic. The more I consider matters, the more I feel that Epicurus is correct.
The image of Death as the Grim Reaper is responsible for much of the structure of our society. Together with Birth, it provides a narrative structure of life, with a beginning and an end. There naturally follows a desire to be able to tell a good tale – to give the ending some drama and meaning – much like the successful denouement of a play.
This encourages us to measure our achievements against those of others, to consider our status in the eyes of the world and in posterity. Will our descendants speak fondly of us, will others still read our wisdom after we are gone, will some part of us thus live forever? All of the structures of society stem from these core concerns.
The problem with this way of thinking is that it forces us to view Life as an unfinished work-in-progress, not to be considered complete until we die. This is a dangerous way to interpret our existence as it encourages us to procrastinate happiness in favour of working on our image. What is the true value of respectful descendants, or the admiration of a future world, or a glowing place in the history books, when we are dead?
I would argue, there is none. It can offer us no joy after we are gone.
Thinking and planning ahead is always going to be part of ensuring joy over our entire lifespan, but essential planning should not be allowed to mutate into indefinite procrastination of pleasure. The true value of Life is not in the tale that will be told of us after we are dead, but in the joy of the living.
Indeed! Plan as if you are going to live for ever; live as if each day is your last.
A very succinct way to put it. I really need a copy-editor sometimes…
I agree with Venetia wholeheartedly. I am constantly planning and mapping things out in my mind because I like to be prepared. But ultimately I think I’m actually enjoying myself more than a lot of my peers. I have goals I’d like to reach but I’m not constantly looking to them and ignoring what’s going on in the moment. I think many people also try to find the perfect moments for certain things. The right time to get married, the right time to have kids, the right time to retire, etc. While these things have real considerations (particularly financial) I believe that there is often no “right time” and you have to make do with the conditions you’re in. When I was an event planner I used to tell people that I plan every single detail out, everyone’s actions down to the minute, but I’m also completely aware that things won’t go according to plan.
Okay now I’m going off on a tangent. I just wish more people would appreciate their present instead of always looking towards their future.
Your comment reminded me of that famous quote by Helmuth von Moltke:
“No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy”
von Moltke understood warfare often devolved into a series of contingencies rather than a grand overarching strategies. A successful battle results from being adaptable when faced with each new crisis.
Life has some obvious similarities, not the least being the applicability of Sun Tzu’s guiding principle: “choose your battles wisely”!