Ancient philosophers as well as medieval ones often kept human skull on their writing desk, as a reminder of their own mortality. I read this long back and assumed that it is widely known but in the early years the idea appeared to me, as it would appear to most people - a freaky habit !
If at all a skull on your writing desk doesn't startle you to death when you doze off with your chin on the table and wake up to find two hollow sockets staring at you, it should at least obsess you with the idea of your own death! And people obsessed with their own deaths, (euphemistically called fatalists or nihilists) would definitely screw up their present lives as well as the lives of people close to them. So it must be one of those freaky things the ancients practiced because they had lots of free time and loads of silly ideas propagated by their wisest men who probably wouldn't be able to intellectually compete with some of the biggest dumb-asses of our time.
Well, those were my thoughts in the early years, but the idea of having a hourly reminder of your impending death no longer appears to me as obsession with one's own death. If at all it means anything, it reminds one of the greater truth than death - Life. It can also be seen as mirror to our souls, to remind if we have committed our deeds virtuously that very day. Of course, all religions, spiritual groups,intellectual groups have rules, principles to aid us in finding the best way to live but in this post, I am talking about a Stoic strain of thought, which neither suggests an alternative to religious codes nor contradicts them. It is one of the mysteries that the ancients bequeathed to us but we seldom recognize them for what they are. For me too,it remains a concept that I find difficult to explain but I will not be so ungrateful as to say it doesn't make sense to me either. I don't have a skull on my desk, as a matter of fact I no longer have a desk. I can find all I would look for on my desk, on my lap now !
But I would no longer underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. Perhaps, the skull acted as a measurement device, much like the thermometer we use for measuring temperature or the device to test the sugar level in our blood, except that in their case it wasn't body temperature or blood sugar they were trying to check but their spiritual and/or intellectual levels.
Faith frees one of the fear of the unknown.
Death is unknown.
The time of one's death is unknown.
What happens after death is unknown
The very concept of death is unknown.
Whether we acknowledge it to even ourselves or not, most of our actions are related to our fear of death or harm. There is no harm in that, life's purpose is to keep death at bay as long as it can,after all death is unknown.
Faith says death is not the end, life continues and that you will be accounted for all your deeds- good and bad karma . Faith is the key to life, it demystifies death , but the latter continues to menace us all the time. Faith is the key, but as a concept it is very difficult to be understood without taking religion or spiritualism into account. Religious laws and principles are meant to help develop that faith.A person with a life-time of good deeds and belief in after-life is likely to be calm when staring into the face of death, but for someone with neither fear of death is natural.
Perhaps for our ancient philosophers, the symbol of death on desk was not a reminder of the inevitability of death but a reminder of how to live every day. That having no fear nor regret as death comes knocking at the door anytime implies a certain level of spiritual maturity. As for that matter, even a half-finished blog post shouldn't be a cause of regret but I am not Socrates (my all time favorite philosopher ) whose last words were "Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt" Now, those words may have deeper meaning; they are in fact the essence of this post but you will have to find out the hidden meaning ;) Nor can I be like the great Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who after tripping and falling, struck the ground with his fist,saying
If at all a skull on your writing desk doesn't startle you to death when you doze off with your chin on the table and wake up to find two hollow sockets staring at you, it should at least obsess you with the idea of your own death! And people obsessed with their own deaths, (euphemistically called fatalists or nihilists) would definitely screw up their present lives as well as the lives of people close to them. So it must be one of those freaky things the ancients practiced because they had lots of free time and loads of silly ideas propagated by their wisest men who probably wouldn't be able to intellectually compete with some of the biggest dumb-asses of our time.Well, those were my thoughts in the early years, but the idea of having a hourly reminder of your impending death no longer appears to me as obsession with one's own death. If at all it means anything, it reminds one of the greater truth than death - Life. It can also be seen as mirror to our souls, to remind if we have committed our deeds virtuously that very day. Of course, all religions, spiritual groups,intellectual groups have rules, principles to aid us in finding the best way to live but in this post, I am talking about a Stoic strain of thought, which neither suggests an alternative to religious codes nor contradicts them. It is one of the mysteries that the ancients bequeathed to us but we seldom recognize them for what they are. For me too,it remains a concept that I find difficult to explain but I will not be so ungrateful as to say it doesn't make sense to me either. I don't have a skull on my desk, as a matter of fact I no longer have a desk. I can find all I would look for on my desk, on my lap now !
But I would no longer underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. Perhaps, the skull acted as a measurement device, much like the thermometer we use for measuring temperature or the device to test the sugar level in our blood, except that in their case it wasn't body temperature or blood sugar they were trying to check but their spiritual and/or intellectual levels.
Faith frees one of the fear of the unknown.
Death is unknown.
The time of one's death is unknown.
What happens after death is unknown
The very concept of death is unknown.
Whether we acknowledge it to even ourselves or not, most of our actions are related to our fear of death or harm. There is no harm in that, life's purpose is to keep death at bay as long as it can,after all death is unknown.
Faith says death is not the end, life continues and that you will be accounted for all your deeds- good and bad karma . Faith is the key to life, it demystifies death , but the latter continues to menace us all the time. Faith is the key, but as a concept it is very difficult to be understood without taking religion or spiritualism into account. Religious laws and principles are meant to help develop that faith.A person with a life-time of good deeds and belief in after-life is likely to be calm when staring into the face of death, but for someone with neither fear of death is natural.
Perhaps for our ancient philosophers, the symbol of death on desk was not a reminder of the inevitability of death but a reminder of how to live every day. That having no fear nor regret as death comes knocking at the door anytime implies a certain level of spiritual maturity. As for that matter, even a half-finished blog post shouldn't be a cause of regret but I am not Socrates (my all time favorite philosopher ) whose last words were "Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt" Now, those words may have deeper meaning; they are in fact the essence of this post but you will have to find out the hidden meaning ;) Nor can I be like the great Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who after tripping and falling, struck the ground with his fist,saying -
- "I come, I come, why dost thou call for me?"
- and died on the spot through holding his breath.[3]
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