I’ll tell you a secret, something they don’t teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal; because any moment might be our last. Everything’s more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
Achilles, Troy (2004)
This quote has been my favorite since Troy came out when I was a freshman in high school, 10 years ago. I’m aware that this movie is not particularly respected, and I get that – it absolutely destroys Achilles and Patroclus, one of my favorite couples in history or mythology, by making them cousins, for starters – but that doesn’t keep me from finding beauty and inspiration in this film.
I mentioned in my first post what my poetry teacher said along a similar vein, that the frailty of our objects of affection make them beautiful. Another riff on the theme comes from the old school anime Slayers TRY, when the dragon elders are baffled by the mortal main characters, “who live much more fully.” Mortals destroy and create with equal enthusiasm.
Lord of the Rings takes the angle that humans have more joie de vivre, but the longer-lived elves have a greater appreciation for beauty. To be fair, humans do have a history of book burning and smashing the monuments of their enemies. We may feel intensely, but what we feel is not always attractive.
So is it true that everything is more beautiful because we are doomed?
I think that’s a choice we make, day to day, moment to moment. Often, we can get stuck on survival, or in loops of stress. After all, they say stop to smell the roses, so while roses might lose some of their appeal if you’d been around for thousands of years or knew you were going to live forever, we have to slow down and step out of our own thoughts to really appreciate the world’s beauty.
Like many things, it comes down to mindfulness. Finding beauty is my version of mindfulness.
For me, sometimes everything is more because I know I’m mortal. Sometimes, I give a passing glance but don’t want to stop and really enjoy something because I’m afraid of “settling,” because I’m waiting to find something or waiting for tomorrow. Quotes like this remind me of how exquisite a mortal life can be, with the right philosophy.
We will never be here again.
Of Tulips & Mortality 