“And he that shall overcome and keep my words unto the end, I will give him power over the nations.” — Revelation 2:26 (Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible)

I. Memento Mori

Death comes for us all. In the entire history of the world, nobody has ever escaped it. What is born must also die. It is a fact.

The question is not a matter of if we die. The question is a matter of how we die.

How will you choose to die? Will you die cowering in fear, attempting to escape an inescapable certainty? Or will you see Death waiting in the shadows and acknowledge her?

Yes, there are things you can do to delay Death’s ultimate visitation. But Death is also unpredictable and sometimes fickle. We must always be aware of her presence and always be ready to die. Memento mori. Remember that you will die.

II. Probabilities in Perspective

Every year, thousands of meteorites hurl themselves towards Earth. In 1954, a woman named Ann Hodges was actually struck by a falling meteorite. She survived with a large bruise, mostly because the meteorite had first crashed through her roof and deflected off her bedside radio before hitting her. She was the only person in recorded history to be struck by a meteorite.

Meteorites crash into Earth all the time, but do you know anyone who goes through life in fear of being hit by one? Only one person is known to have ever been hit by a meteorite, so we deem the risk to be astronomically low and ignore it. It is a possibility, but not one we ever worry about.

Meteorites are an extreme example. What about car accidents or homicide? Those probabilities are much higher, and many people do go through life worrying about them.

Your chances of dying in a car accident during your lifetime is about 1 in 101. That’s less than a 1% chance. Assuming an 80 year lifespan, on any given day you have about a 0.00003% chance of dying in a car accident. Your chances of being murdered are similar.

Given such miniscule probabilities, why do some people go through life in fear of dying in a car accident or getting murdered? There are certain risks we take every day that are not worth fearing. In fact, fearing those risks might mean living a less fulfilling and less meaningful life.

A Stoic always takes probabilities into perspective. A Stoic has little to fear. Risks that are unlikely to happen are not worth fearing. Risks that are likely to happen, but can be avoided, are mitigated by the wise Stoic. Risks that are likely to happen, but cannot be avoided, are faced fearlessly by the brave Stoic.

We can’t anticipate every possibility. Part of living is knowing that anything can happen at any time. But whatever happens, the Stoic faces it unafraid.

III. Trust Humanity

In 1894, The Times of London reported, “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.” Horse manure was a real problem in cities back in 1894. It just piled up in the streets. Ironically, more horses were needed in order to remove the manure, which in turn led to the problem of even more manure. If human innovation were stagnant, perhaps by the 1940s, London would indeed have been buried under nine feet of manure. But we made cars, and cars don’t poop.

Humans are innovative problem solvers. We can trust humanity to solve any problem that arises. Trusting humanity is all a Stoic can do, because the alternative makes life not worth living. What is the point of continuing our existence today if the human race is destined to extinguish itself anyways?

Nuclear war, climate change, and asteroids bumping into the Earth are all existential threats. These are intractable problems that may seem too large for anyone to solve. But trust humanity. When faced with the threat of annihilation, humans always find a way.

We must trust that humans always find a way, because that is the only path over which we have some control. Taking the other path, the one where we resign ourselves to annihilation, is the path where we give up all control. It is a lazy, pitiful person who simply gives up when other, more hopeful, options exist.

A true Stoic is an eternal optimist. A true Stoic trusts humanity to preserve itself.

IV. Remember to Live

How should one live if the end of the world approaches? We should probably look to the terminally ill for guidance. For terminally ill people, their end of the world approaches.

I have anecdotal evidence that someone who is terminally ill simply wants to spend time with the people they love. As much as they are able, they live as they have always lived. They relish in the simple joys of life, and try to enjoy each of their favorite activities for the final time.

As the world ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, so does life. A Stoic lives a life free of worry and regret. A Stoic lives a content life and moves forward without looking back, because nobody can change the time we have left behind us.

While those “preppers” preparing for an imminent end of the world isolate themselves in compounds in preparation of a bleak rest of their lives, in hope that catastrophe would happen to prove to themselves that they were right, the rest of us will live out our happy lives to the bitter end.

Memento vivere. Remember you must live.

V. Die Stoically

Bertrand Russell first introduced a cognitive bias called The Turkey Illusion. It goes something like this:

A turkey is fed and looked after until eventually it will be butchered for a Thanksgiving feast. Every time it is fed, the turkey grows more trusting of its caretaker. It feels safest the night before Thanksgiving, when the same person who has kept it alive, then kills it.

If you were the turkey, would you want to know about Thanksgiving? The turkey can do nothing about its eventual fate. A turkey going about life without knowledge of Thanksgiving may live a contented and happy life. However, a turkey who knows about Thanksgiving may live a stressful life, always worried about its impending doom. Two turkeys moving towards the same fate, but living their lives with completely different mindsets.

If the world will end and there is nothing we can do about it, so be it. Like turkeys before Thanksgiving, all we can do is enjoy our last days on Earth and accept death when it comes.

In a way, we all face a fateful Thanksgiving. The entire world may not end, but each of us will die one day. Do you want to live life worried that someday you will die? Or will you live a contented life with no regrets?

That is how you die as a Stoic.