“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” – Chuck Palahniuk

A couple of days ago I found myself thinking about death, about life, about legacy. What do I want to do with my life? As artists- and we are all artists- our lives are our greatest work, our magnum opus. The paths we take, the decisions we make stand as a testament to our memory.

It is important to be a part of something greater than ourselves. It seems to be a self-evident truth of nature observable all around us, as well as within us- our emotional needs align beautifully with the notion that we are “meant’ to be something more than what we are. I use quotes, because it seems quite likely that there is no objective purpose or meaning of anything of the sort if you could somehow imagine yourself distanced from the needs that have shaped and defined us throughout our history. And that’s quite okay, really- if anything it’s a rather elegant and humbling idea.

We have to learn to live with the uncertainty and unpredictability that is so integral to all existence, and learn to see beauty in it. In the darkness we have to supply our own light, and most illuminating of all, to me, is that it would be most prudent to remind ourselves that the light is entirely of our own making, and as fallible, provisional and piecemeal as the rest of our precious existence. It is a reminder, I think, that we should lead lives of grace and temperance.

How is it that we manage to return to arrogance time and time again, if not for ignorance? I’d like to constantly remind myself of how small I am, and how pointlessly wasteful it is to be hubristic. I’m still learning, and I hope I always will be.

Shifting gears for a moment- I feel like I ought to write my own will, to make plans for my own death. I’m young, fit, happy and healthy- yet I can’t help but feel this nagging sense that it is not possible to truly live until we have prepared for death. What is to be of the possessions that have come within my grasp? What of the relationships, thoughts and ideas that I’ve had the honour of being a vessel for? What is the legacy that I am to create? What is it that is greater than myself within me, that I may enshrine, empower and unleash into the universe? What is the journey I must take, what is the metamorphosis I must undergo?

Be calm, at peace. You know what you must do. Build your capacity for mindfulness and be more mindful at all times. Forge your own path, and aid others in doing the same. Love, love, love.