Harsh Reality
Tomorrow is not yours. This is a harsh statement because most of us live with the idea that it is only fair to live into old age. But why do you think you deserve tomorrow? Where does it say that old age is your right? What have you done to demand another day on earth?
Not A New Idea
I was recently able to visit the Princeton University Art Museum and view a sculpture of Marcus Aurelius from around 100 A.D. I am an enthusiast of classical literature, so it was quite a treat to be able to view this and many other ancient Greek and Roman art pieces.
This idea of not being entitled tomorrow is not new. It can be found in the writings of Marcus Aurelius. In a compilation of Aurelius’ daily reflections, the once emperor and philosopher put this profound idea into even simpler terms. The short excerpt below is from his writings entitled Meditations.
“still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses…For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can anyone take this from him…For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived,”
It Can’t Be Earned, Just Lived
Sadly, there are tragedies everyday which take the lives of those with the brightest of futures. It would be a tragedy not to mourn the loss of every life. But in living we must remember that life is nothing more than a gift. Not a single person on this earth has ever earned a breath or another heartbeat; there is no currency to buy these precious items. Each one of us was born, not by our own choice. We did not purchase the first breath of oxygen in our lungs, or the beginning of our hearts continuing beat. Life was simply given to each and every one of us, and we simply must live it.
A Day Quite Misunderstood
It is inevitable that tomorrow will eventually be taken from us, maybe not today’s tomorrow, and hopefully not for many tomorrows to come. Life is too precious and amazing to be cut short, but this is out of our control. What we do have within our grasp is today: the usually forgotten, vastly misunderstood, most powerful, and only day we really ever live.
Your life only becomes what you do with your today. It seems so simple to just live for today, but we can’t be foolish with it. Because what you do with your today will always determine the state of your tomorrow. Which is only waiting to become your next today. So don’t YOLO your way into misery and bad memories, but remember that you only live this today once. You can’t live in the future or the past. So if you want to live, then there is no other option than today. Tomorrow is not yours anyways.
A Day Revealed
Now this post is not meant to add another negative cloud to the many we already have in our day. I hope it brings some brightness to the day which is today and reveals what today may actually hold. Make a point to not look to the future or the past, to try and avoid the present. Take today and live it. Drain it dry of all the potential it has. Tomorrow is not indebted to you at all. So even though tomorrow is not yours, well today, that is a whole different story.
Life, keep it simple and live it
Josh
Source: Aurelius, M. Meditations.