Welcome to ‘7 Days of Joyful Stoic Death Writing’ for Scotland’s Demystifying Death Week, 5-11 May 2025. Each day this week, I’m contemplating and writing in response to meditations on death drawn from ancient Stoic philosophy. I’ll share a daily meditation, offer an invitation for reflection, and invite you to join the conversation in the comments.

Dear You —

Many pieces of frankincense burning on the altar: One falls sooner than the other. But that makes no difference.

Imagine. 2,000 years ago. A Roman emperor. In his bedroom. Late at night. Candles and incense burning. He notices how one lump of incense crumbles sooner than the next. Yet, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference.

So too with human life. In a deeply contemplative moment, he exorts himself to consider his own life in these terms.

Whether he dies now or years later, it makes no difference.

The past and the future do not exist in any real, for us, way. We only ever live in the present moment. If we are happy in the present moment, we cannot improve on this by extending its duration.

Today, I invite you to explore your assumptions about length of life. And, at the end of your explorations today, consider what it could mean for you if you accept that it makes no difference. It makes no difference if you die tomorrow or in years to come, so long as you live fully today.1

I know, it’s hard to simply convince yourself intellectually of this. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius notices the natural world and records vivid images. Meditating with vivid imagery is an important strategy as he trains himself to accept death by noticing the transient nature of everything around him.

Today, I invite you to consider the imagery in the meditation and then to go off in search of vivid imagery of change and decomposition, of crumbling and falling in the world around you.

Invitations

If you have 5 minutes

• Read the above meditation out loud.

• Write down (or memorise) a single keyword or phrase to capture this meditation.

• Two or three times during the day, repeat this keyword or phrase.

If you have 10 minutes

• The above, plus ‘copywork’; your meditative writing practice: In your journal, in lovely, slow, intentional writing, copy out the meditation, word for word.

• Try recalling this meditation throughout the day.

If you have 30-60 minutes

• The above, plus ‘free write’: Explore further, allow your pen to stay moving on the page. Set a timer for 3 or 5 or 8 minutes. What comes up for you?

  • Notice images of decomposition in your daily life and start recording them (lists, photographs, voice notes, sketches.)

• When the timer goes off, take a break. Then, return and reconsider your word choices and imagery, and shape into a form that is pleasing to you.

• An alternative to the free write is to:

  • Summarise the meditation into bullet points.

  • Reformulate (reexpress/rewrite) the meditation using your own words and voice (but don't change the teaching).

At the end of your writing session, close your journal. Take a deep breath, stretch, put some music on, walk, dance, do something comforting.

Here’s some music to inspire you. This playlist was co-created by participants in a previous version of Joyful Death Writing. Enjoy!

🪦 Finally, remember: Two or three times during the day, just as you are about to enjoy something or someone you love, say this to yourself: "Tomorrow, you will die."

And you’re done!

We’ll meet again tomorrow (fate permitting). 💙

Meet me in the comments

Come on into the comments section and share your writing or anything else that came up for you. I don’t think we can share images in the comments, but if you’d like to share pages from your journal, maybe share as a Substack note and tag me there and/or link in the comments. Remember, the 7 Days are open to all subscribers, so take care with what you are sharing. I encourage you to read and respond to others too. I’ll see you there.

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Memento mori,