Memento Mori

A memento mori (Latin 'remember that you will die'^[2]) is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death.<sup>[2]



There are some who would accuse me of having a rather morbid curiosity. That, however, entirely depends on your perspective, and if you possessed mine, you wouldn't think so.

I have always had a natural interest in bugs, and bones, and skulls, and diagrams of human anatomy. I often think humans walk around in this world full of wonder and don't stop to think about what lies underneath the surface, making it all work. Like a car aficionado looking under the hood of an amazing car, marveling at the mechanics of it all. That's what I do- I marvel. At the mechanics. Of it all.

There are obvious overtones of the temporary nature of reality in the objects of my interest. One can't really see skulls and heart x rays without considering that it all ends one day. And that is not at all a bad thing to be reminded of- these things are momento mori; they exist not to scare, but serve to prod one into a wakeful state. (Although for many, said wakeful awareness is a frightening proposition to consider, and that is a very sad truth and the basis for a lot of the suffering in the world.)</sup>

 

 

These things don't freak me out. They remind me to get busy living. They allow me to see that there is much under the surface that we take for granted- and this not only literal but metaphorical.

 

Last week I found a sweet little hummingbird's body lying in the courtyard. I went to bury him, but when I saw ants scouting around where I had dug the hole, I decided not to bury him at all, but to let the ants do what ants do naturally. This week, I went back to see. I guess part of me was also hoping there would be a cool skeleton left, but that wasn't the motivating force behind my not burying him. It was the motivating force of my going back to check. And indeed, there was a perfect little hummingbird skeleton and skull, completely picked clean. The tiny rib cage looked like it was made from strands if spider web silk, with the tiny feathers still on the tips of the wings. I was afraid to touch it, it seemed so delicate. But the skull- wow. For someone like me who is fascinated with skulls, this was a like finding gold.

 

 

The last skull I found was on a beach in Bali. I was walking with my friend on a black sand beach, recounting how the last time I had been on a black sand beach, the ocean had tossed a mongoose skull right in front of me. It was in Hawaii, in the early 90s,  and I had wanted to take some lava home, but there was a superstition about the blood of Pele leaving the island, and I didn't want to piss her off. So I said, out loud, "I want to take something special from this place to keep with me!" And like an answer, the skull drifted on the incoming wave and right in front of my foot.

 

So I am telling my friend about this, as we sauntered up the black sand beaches of Lovina in Bali two years ago, when a very unlikely thing happened. A skull. Drifted in the from the ocean. In front of my feet.

 

I don't know about you, but that experience freaked me out in a good way. It was like having direct contact with The Mystery. But then again, that is what life is, underneath it all, under all the fabrications and illusions, the distorted perceptions and the barrage of images and ideas in the media. Under the surface of it all, the mechanics are so beautifully engineered, so intensely perfect. And to be privy to that is a gift I give myself.

 

Speaking of Memento Mori- here is a website which allows you to build a profile for your loved ones in the event of your death- things you want to say, to be remembered for, instructions for your funeral, or to say sorry, or to confess, or whatever. Kind of cool, just in case you wonder about this sort of thing. Weird Memento Mori website for your greiving loved ones