Happy Halloween! What a perfect time to discuss death! On this spooky holiday we open with Data asking Picard to grant him a gift... mortality. We discuss how we deal with mortality and why it is such a gift to be alive and that we all die.

We go into how we can prepare for our own inevitable death. Part of that is destigmatizing death to not let it be a looming fear, but instead of provider of beauty and meaning. Can it be destigmatized too much? Possibly, but we think the pendulum is swung towards a fear of "tempting fate" by talking about it. How does Marcus respond to people thinking speaking about death is tempting fate? Find out in this episode!

Special for Halloween, we combined the outro and Stoic reimagining with a longer story of "Death's Messengers" by Brothers Grimm, with a symphony playing Danse Macabre to set the tone.

Death’s Messengers Fairy tale (original) - Story by Brothers Grimm
(61) Danse macabre, Op. 40 - YouTube

Can we just say, "What a chapter?!" Book 7 has many riveting themes, including... Simplicity!

Marcus says, "Always bear this in mind; and another thing too, that very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life." To explore that we compare how much it would cost to live the life of an Instagram Influencer compared to a simple life. The happiest *recorded* capacity for happiness was found in a man who lived in absolute simplicity, the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.

We use the Catchy Quaker Classic, Simple Gifts, as inspiration on what simplicity should bring, freedom. Aside from its catchiness, the song gives some great insights on living a simple life and how that will make life more cohesive.

Elon Musk gives a practical formula for simplifying things in business which we extrapolate to simplifying life. Then Winston Churchill gives a great example of an "Autotelic" activity.

For the Stoic Reimagining we thought we would challenge ourselves to simplify this episode. It may have worked too well...

Book 7 of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius focuses on Stoic themes like living in harmony with nature, accepting the impermanence of life, and the importance of rationality.

Marcus considers valuable things such as how little is necessary to living a happy life, what the perfection of moral character looks like, and how the more you dig for good within yourself the more it will bubble up.

The chapter is a reminder to align actions with reason and find peace within oneself through disciplined living.