Today I die
People frequently talk about their inevitable death as if it were going to occur sometime in the future. I happen to know that I will not be dying in the future.
Let me explain.
Nearly everyone I meet seems to be focused on the future. They talk about what they'll do after getting off work, or where they plan to travel to on their next vacation, or what they plan to do once they've completed their education. At my stage of life everyone is talking about how they will finally enjoy life when they eventually retire from work.
All any of us really have is today. All we have is the present and if we are not living right now, in the present, we are tossing aside the only life we have.
Since I have no assurance of living one moment beyond the present, exchanging "now" for an unsecured future (a future that is not in my possession) seems extremely foolish.
In my experience, those who make a perpetual habit of expectantly looking forward to some supposedly fulfilling future are missing out on "right now." To make matters even worse, if and when the illusive tomorrow they are dreaming about arrives, it immediately turns into another disappointing "today." So, off they go again, imagining how happy they'll be in some elusive tomorrow.
With so many choosing to live in the future, it’s no wonder so many expect to die in the future.
I know that my death is inevitable. I also know that the day of my death will be in the present. It will be today.
Nearly everyone I meet seems to be focused on the future. They talk about what they'll do after getting off work, or where they plan to travel to on their next vacation, or what they plan to do once they've completed their education. At my stage of life everyone is talking about how they will finally enjoy life when they eventually retire from work.
All any of us really have is today. All we have is the present and if we are not living right now, in the present, we are tossing aside the only life we have.
When the longest- and shortest-lived of us dies, the loss is precisely equal. For the sole thing of which any of us can be deprived is the present, since this is all we own, and nobody can lose what is not theirs. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.14
Since I have no assurance of living one moment beyond the present, exchanging "now" for an unsecured future (a future that is not in my possession) seems extremely foolish.
In my experience, those who make a perpetual habit of expectantly looking forward to some supposedly fulfilling future are missing out on "right now." To make matters even worse, if and when the illusive tomorrow they are dreaming about arrives, it immediately turns into another disappointing "today." So, off they go again, imagining how happy they'll be in some elusive tomorrow.
With so many choosing to live in the future, it’s no wonder so many expect to die in the future.
I know that my death is inevitable. I also know that the day of my death will be in the present. It will be today.