“Do you then ponder how the supreme of human evils, the surest mark of the base and cowardly, is not death, but the fear of death? I urge you to discipline yourself against such fear, direct all your thinking, exercises, and reading this way — and you will know the only path to human freedom.”
EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.26.38-39
The worst thing is not death, it’s the fear of death.
Most of the time, our fear is worse than the actual thing we’re afraid of — and this situation is no different. We’re afraid of dying, but once we’re dead, we don’t care anymore. As author Ryan Holiday points out in today’s chapter of The Daily Stoic (where the quote above comes from), death means the end of all our worries, all our pain, and all our hopes and fears. What is there to be afraid of, then? Death is “the end of fear”, in fact.
Epictetus counsels us to eliminate our fear of death, for it causes more trouble than it’s worth. We should “discipline [ourselves] against such fear,” he says, and use all our energy not to think about death or worry about it. In essence, don’t fear the reaper — because it’s unhealthy, and pointless, and “cowardly”.
Instead of fretting about dying, we must realize that we have a brief existence on this planet, and make the most of the time we have left. Use this time and all the practice and work you’ve done to invest in yourself, so that when the end comes you can truly say you know yourself — before it’s too late. Make sure you are truly alive. Rather than wasting time fearing the inevitable.
