Memento mori

Memento mori(Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")is an artistic or symbolictropeacting as a reminder of the inevitability ofdeath.The concept has its roots in the philosophers ofclassical antiquityandChristianity, and appeared infunerary artand architecture from the medieval period onwards.
The most commonmotifis a skull, often accompanied by bones. Often, this alone is enough to evoke the trope, but other motifs include a coffin,hourglass, or wilting flowers to signify the impermanence of life. Often, these would accompany a different central subject within a wider work, such as portraiture; however, the concept includes standalone genres such as thevanitasandDanse Macabrein visual art andcadaver monumentsin sculpture.
In English, the phrase is typically pronounced/məˈmɛntoʊˈmɔːri/,mə-MEN-tohMOR-ee.
Mementois thesecond-person singularactivefutureimperativeofmeminī, 'to remember, to bear in mind', usually serving as a warning: "remember!"Morīis thepresentinfinitiveof thedeponent verbmorior'to die'.Thus, the phrase literally translates as "you must remember to die" but may be loosely rendered as "remember death" or "remember that you die".
The philosopherDemocritustrained himself by going into solitude and frequenting tombs.Plato'sPhaedo, where the death ofSocratesis recounted, introduces the idea that the proper practice of philosophy is "about nothing else but dying and being dead".
TheStoicsofclassical antiquitywere particularly prominent in their use of this discipline, andSeneca's letters are full of injunctions to meditate on death.The StoicEpictetustold his students that when kissing their child, brother, or friend, they should remind themselves that they are mortal, curbing their pleasure, as do "those who stand behind men in their triumphs and remind them that they are mortal".The StoicMarcus Aureliusinvited the reader (himself) to "consider how ephemeral and mean all mortal things are" in hisMeditations.
In some accounts of theRoman triumph, a companion orpublic slavewould stand behind or near thetriumphant generalduring the procession and remind him from time to time of his own mortality or prompt him to "look behind".A version of this warning is often rendered into English as "Remember,Caesar, thou art mortal", for example inFahrenheit 451.
Several passages in the Old Testament urge a remembrance of death. InPsalm 90, Moses prays that God would teach his people "to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12). InEcclesiastes, the Preacher insists that "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart" (Eccl. 7:2). In Isaiah, the lifespan of human beings is compared to the short lifespan of grass: "The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of theLordblows on it; surelythe people are grass" (Is. 40:7).
The expressionmemento morideveloped with the growth of Christianity, which emphasizedHeaven,Hell,Hadesand salvation of the soul in theafterlife.
The thought was then utilized in Christianity, whose strong emphasis ondivine judgment,heaven,hell, and thesalvation of the soulbrought death to the forefront of consciousness.In the Christian context, thememento moriacquires a moralizing purpose quite opposed to thenunc est bibendum("now is the time to drink") theme ofclassical antiquity. To the Christian, the prospect of death serves to emphasize the emptiness and fleetingness of earthly pleasures, luxuries, and achievements, and thus also as an invitation to focus one's thoughts on the prospect of the afterlife. A biblical injunction often associated with thememento moriin this context isIn omnibus operibus tuis memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis(theVulgate's Latin rendering ofEcclesiasticus7:40, "in all thy works be mindful of thy last end and thou wilt never sin.") This finds ritual expression in the rites ofAsh Wednesday, when ashes are placed upon the worshipers' heads with the words, "Remember, Man, that you are dust and unto dust, you shall return."
Memento morihas been an important part ofasceticdisciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards theimmortalityof the soul and the afterlife.
The most obvious places to look formemento morimeditations are in funeral art andarchitecture. Perhaps the most striking to contemporary minds is thetransiorcadaver tomb, a tomb that depicts the decayedcorpseof the deceased. This became a fashion in the tombs of the wealthy in the fifteenth century, and surviving examples still offer a stark reminder of the vanity of earthly riches. Later,Puritantomb stonesin the colonial United States frequently depicted winged skulls, skeletons, orangelssnuffing out candles. These are among the numerousthemes associated with skull imagery.
Another example ofmemento moriis provided by the chapels of bones, such as theCapela dos OssosinÉvoraor theCapuchin Cryptin Rome. These are chapels where the walls are totally or partially covered by human remains, mostly bones. The entrance to the Capela dos Ossos has the following sentence: "We bones, lying here bare, await yours."
Timepieces have been used to illustrate that the time of the living on Earth grows shorter with each passing minute. Publicclockswould be decorated with mottos such asultima forsan("perhaps the last" [hour]) orvulnerant omnes, ultima necat("they all wound, and the last kills"). Clocks have carried the mottotempus fugit, "time flees". Old striking clocks often sportedautomatawho would appear and strike the hour; some of the celebrated automaton clocks fromAugsburg, Germany, had Death striking the hour. In the private sphere, some people carried smaller reminders of their own mortality. For example,Mary, Queen of Scots, owned a large watch carved in the form of asilverskull, embellished with the lines ofHorace, "Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poor and the towers of Kings."
In the late 16th and through the 17th century,memento morijewelry was popular. Items includedmourning rings,pendants,lockets, andbrooches.These pieces depicted tiny motifs of skulls, bones, and coffins, in addition to messages and names of the departed, picked out inprecious metalsandenamel.
During the same period, there emerged the artistic genre known asvanitas, Latin for "emptiness" or "vanity".  Especially popular inHollandand then spreading to otherEuropean nations, vanitas paintings typically represented assemblages of numerous symbolic objects such as human skulls, guttering candles, wilting flowers, soap bubbles, butterflies, and hourglasses. In combination, vanitas assemblies conveyed the impermanence of human endeavours and of the decay that is inevitable with the passage of time. See also the themes associated withthe image of the skull. The 2007screenprintby the street-artistBanksy"Grin Reaper" features theGrim Reaperwith acid-house smiley face sitting on a clock demonstrating death awaiting us all.
Memento moriis also an important literary theme. Well-known literary meditations on death in English prose include SirThomas Browne'sHydriotaphia, Urn BurialandJeremy Taylor'sHoly Living and Holy Dying. These works were part of aJacobeancult of melancholiathat marked the end of theElizabethan era. In the late eighteenth century, literaryelegieswere a common genre;Thomas Gray'sElegy Written in a Country ChurchyardandEdward Young'sNight Thoughtsare typical members of the genre.
In the European devotional literature of the Renaissance, theArs Moriendi,memento morihad moral value by reminding individuals of their mortality.
Apart from the genre ofrequiemand funeral music, there is also a rich tradition ofmemento moriin theEarly Musicof Europe. Especially those facing the ever-present death during the recurringbubonic plaguepandemicsfrom the 1340s onward tried to toughen themselves by anticipating the inevitable inchants, from the simpleGeisslerliederof theFlagellantmovement to the more refined cloistral or courtly songs. The lyrics often looked at life as a necessary and God-givenvale of tearswith death as a ransom, and they reminded people to lead sinless lives to stand a chance atJudgment Day. The following two Latin stanzas (with their English translations) are typical ofmemento moriin medieval music; they are from thevirelaiAd Mortem Festinamusof theLlibre Vermell de Montserratfrom 1399:
Thedanse macabreis another well-known example of thememento moritheme, with its dancing depiction of theGrim Reapercarrying off rich and poor alike. This and similar depictions of Death decorated many European churches.
Memento moriwas the salutation used by theHermits of St. Paul of France(1620–1633), also known as the Brothers of Death.It is sometimes claimed that theTrappistsuse this salutation, but this is not true.
Colonial American artsaw a large number ofmemento moriimages due toPuritaninfluence. The Puritan community in 17th-century North America looked down upon art because they believed that it drew the faithful away from God and, if away from God, then it could only lead to the devil. However, portraits were considered historical records and, as such, they were allowed.Thomas Smith, a 17th-century Puritan, fought in many naval battles and also painted. In his self-portrait, we see these pursuits represented alongside a typical Puritanmemento moriwith a skull, suggesting his awareness of imminent death.
The poem underneath the skull emphasizes Thomas Smith's acceptance of death and of turning away from the world of the living:
Muchmemento moriart is associated with theMexican festivalDay of the Dead, including skull-shaped candies and bread loaves adorned with bread "bones".
This theme was also famously expressed in the works of the Mexican engraverJosé Guadalupe Posada, in which people from various walks of life are depicted as skeletons.
Another manifestation ofmemento moriis found in the Mexican "Calavera", a literary composition in verse form normally written in honour of a person who is still alive, but written as if that person were dead. These compositions have a comedic tone and are often offered from one friend to another duringDay of the Dead.
Roman Krznaricsuggestsmemento moriis an important topic to bring back into our thoughts and belief system; "Philosophers have come up with lots of what I call 'death tasters' – thought experiments for seizing the day."
These thought experiments are powerful to get us re-oriented back to death into current awareness and living with spontaneity.Albert Camusstated "Come to terms with death, thereafter anything is possible."Jean-Paul Sartreexpressed that life is given to us early, and is shortened at the end, all the while taken away at every step of the way, emphasizing that the end is only the beginning every day.
The Buddhist practicemaraṇasatimeditates on death. The word is aPālicompound ofmaraṇa'death' (anIndo-Europeancognate of Latinmori) andsati'awareness', so very close tomemento mori. It is first used in early Buddhist texts, thesuttapiṭakaof thePāli Canon, with parallels in theāgamasof the "Northern" Schools.
In Japan, the influence ofZenBuddhist contemplation of death on indigenous culture can be gauged by the following quotation from the classic treatise onsamuraiethics,Hagakure:
In the annual appreciation ofcherry blossomand fall colors,hanamiandmomijigari, it was philosophized that things are most splendid at the moment before their fall, and to aim to live and die in a similar fashion.
In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a mind training practice known asLojong. The initial stages of the classic Lojong begin with 'The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind', or, more literally, 'Four Contemplations to Cause a Revolution in the Mind'.The second of these four is the contemplation on impermanence and death. In particular, one contemplates that;
There are a number of classic verse formulations of these contemplations meant for daily reflection to overcome our strong habitual tendency to live as though we will certainly not die today.
The following is from theLalitavistara Sūtra, a major work in the classical Sanskrit canon:
A very well-known verse in the Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan canons states [this is from the Sanskrit version, theUdānavarga]:
Shantideva, in theBodhisattvacaryāvatāra'Bodhisattva's Way of Life' reflects at length:
In a practice text written by the 19th-century Tibetan masterDudjom Lingpafor seriousmeditators, he formulates the second contemplation in this way:
The contemporary Tibetan master,Yangthang Rinpoche, in his short text 'Summary of the View, Meditation, and Conduct':
The Tibetan Canon also includes copious materials on the meditative preparation for the death process and intermediate periodbardobetween death and rebirth. Amongst them are the famous "Tibetan Book of the Dead", in TibetanBardo Thodol, the "Natural Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo".
The "remembrance of death" (Arabic:تذكرة الموت,Tadhkirat al-Mawt; deriving fromتذكرة,tadhkirah, Arabic formemorandumoradmonition), has been a major topic of Islamic spirituality since the time of the Islamic prophetMuhammadinMedina. It is grounded in theQur'an, where there are recurring injunctions to pay heed to the fate of previous generations.Thehadithliterature, which preserves the teachings of Muhammad, records advice for believers to "remember often death, the destroyer of pleasures."SomeSufishave been called "ahl al-qubur," the "people of the graves," because of their practice of frequenting graveyards to ponder on mortality and the vanity of life, based on the teaching of Muhammad to visit graves.Al-Ghazalidevotes to this topic the last book of his "The Revival of the Religious Sciences".
TheHávamál("Sayings of the High One"), a 13th-century Icelandic compilation poetically attributed to the godOdin, includes two sections – the Gestaþáttr and the Loddfáfnismál – offering manygnomicproverbs expressing the memento mori philosophy, most famously Gestaþáttr number 77: