Memento Mori
What makes the heart beat? This is a “vital” question for everyone; whether wealthy or poor, free or imprisoned, healthy or sick, religious or atheist, this is the question of utmost importance. It’s interesting that the thing that causes the heart to beat is a small electrical current. Life is governed by a small thing in the heart called the sinoatrial node. With each heartbeat, an electrical signal travels from the top of the heart to the bottom. As the signal travels, it causes the heart to contract and pump blood. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times. When this electrical current stops, our bodies stop moving, our minds stop thinking, and we die.
For the average person, death is far from the mind, and something to avoid thinking about. However, in conventional warfare, the warrior or fighter is faced with the possibility of eminent death each day. The fighter is prepared and ready to fight unto the death. This is especially true for the mercenary who believes with their whole being in the cause of the war and/or the reward.
When we are young, we don’t ponder this much, but as we grow older, we become frail and gravity seems to get stronger, drawing us down towards the earth as if it is pulling us to the grave. Because all of human existence has been confronted with this reality, it is no wonder that all peoples have contemplated this mystery. The Stoic philosophers believed that death is not only natural, but also necessary for the continuance of life. Death is part of the cycle of life, we can learn how to deal with death by learning about it, preparing for it and using it as an opportunity to live our lives better.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk poetically reflected:
“We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!”
In classical western art the skull is a common theme. Today the skull and skeletons are a major part of pop culture imagery. They are ubiquitous icons found on clothing, tattoos, jewelry, graphics, warning labels and in people front yards during a certain season in the fall. Death is one of the most popular themes in movies and media, including the news. People are curious and fascinated with the horrors of death, but when most people are faced with actual death, they are terrified; that is unless they have memento mori.
Although this may sound morbid to the average modern person, St. John Chrysostom recommends visiting graveyards. This is not an exercise in morbidity, but a reconning with reality. He explains:
“The site of the tombs compels each of the viewers to think philosophically about the matters relating to their own death, and persuades them to think that nothing belonging to the present is secure, nor painful, nor good. The person persuaded of these things will not easily be caught by sins net.”
Memento mori is distilled down to a simple line in the scriptures, in the book if Sirach, the longest extant wisdom book from antiquity, written approximately around 180 BCE:
“In all you do, remember the end of your life, and you will never sin.”
St. John goes on to explain that, when one is keenly aware of his own mortality, the brilliant things in life won’t be a conceit, and that which causes suffering in life won’t depress or upset, because one sees that:
“both have an uncertain end. For truly, often the person who is alive today doesn’t even last until the evening.”
In conclusion, St. John says that this ultimately leads one to detachment from worldly things, which in turn leads to contentment.
The story of Lazarus encapsulates remembrance of death in a fascinating way. We all know the story of how he was dead and Jesus brought him back to life. What is not widely known is that after he came back to life it is said that he always had a bitter taste in his mouth. They say that, for the rest of his life he was quiet and wise and didn’t say much. However, there is a story that claims he once saw someone stealing a pot. He smilingly said: “the clay steals the clay.”
The modern day holy woman, the nun Gerontissa Makrina (1995), who was renowned for her warm hospitality and charity said:
“We are all going to leave this world–young and old, rich and poor, the king and the soldier. Regardless of the manner in which one looks after his house, or his monastery, regardless of how brilliantly he polishes it, he will still depart this life. Our Christ will ask from us what we did for Him and how we labored for Him. These are questions God will ask of us. This is why we need to struggle spiritually.”
As we previously mentioned, each one of us will have experience of cessation of a beating heart which ends in death, and every death happens either by physics and/or biology, but always because of biology. Life is so delicate and tenuous that we can die by failure of the tiniest blood vessel in the brain, or by drowning in a teaspoon of water, or by the tiniest of bacteria. And then there is death by way of a catastrophic accident or even murder.
In the meantime, most of us get into the habit of functioning on a day-to-day basis as if we are invincible. This cannot be farther from the truth. Yes, the human heart must stop one day, but the heart of the soul is eternal. Remembrance of death is important because it reorients us towards the spiritual heart of the soul. This is where our longing for invincibility is realized. The irony here is that remembering death can lead us to a disposition for immortality.
When we stop and deliberately think about death, most of us have the immediate experience of fear. This feeling must be immediately replaced with faith, hope and love. We must be just as the thief on the cross next to Jesus, who, when he was at deaths doorstep, asked Jesus: “Remember me, O Lord, in thy kingdom.” We must take comfort in Christ’s unwavering reply: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” He was also saying this to you and me.