“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
― Mark Twain
The concept of the rear-view mirror strongly coexists with the looming thought of death. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, as we are re-evaluating our existence on this big blue marble, death as the end inspires us to think deeply about the lives we want to live and the lives we have led up to this point. This intentional retrospection is what we call the rearview mirror effect, where we use death as the finite point, and the realization of this finite point as the beginning. By this I mean, realizing our existence and its end is volatile, crucial, and substantive, and how we choose to live our lives now matters. I promise that this is not a depressing post, but a fun (fun!) way of thinking about not only death but also where we are now, and where we wish to be in the future. So, buckle up and let me guide you into choosing to exist. And no, I’m not a guru.
The rear-view effect challenges us to take stock of the type of lives we have led so far and to choose if this is how we want to continue living. Do we need to undergo a complete life renovation? That’s a big question. Why is thinking about death so important in inspiring thoughts of a life renovation? Sigmund Freud claims that, “in the unconscious every one of us is convinced of his own immortality. There is no sense of the passage of time; time does not work chronologically in our unconscious.” This means that we are guided by a sense of exceptionalism where death is a distant thought rather than an active idea. As we perceive our own immortality, we gain, as Freud suggests, a sense of heroism, that inevitably detaches us from the finite nature of life. And once this happens, we can’t help but reflect.
“Unbeing dead isn't being alive.”
― E. E. Cummings
It is important for us to reconcile our ideas of death if we’re actually going to consider the type of life we want to live. We are not exempted from death, so we need to live our lives so fiercely that at no point will we regret it; we must choose to wholeheartedly exist. That means there is a dualistic relationship between our whole being now and the shortness of our time. In as much as we are perceiving the end, we are taking charge of our now and crafting it to suit the sort of experiences we desire to have before our end. Charles Hagen states that, “dying is not simply the end of existence, but a time of important psychological, emotional and spiritual work.” This means that we need to reinvent how we think about our existence. Every day we are going out and doing the labor of living. Laboring to be our own main characters in this spaceship we call life. When we look at our life now, are we happy with it? If not, why not? Are we stuck in an unfulfilling loop? Why would we live in such a loop if we are mortal and our time is short? If you need a reason to dare to reinvent your life, this is it! Choose to fiercely exist!
“It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables