“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?”
Odysseus, “Troy” 2004
“…All will be still, that sang and that did struggle,
That glistened and rejoiced:
The greenness of my eyes, the gold of my hair,
And this my tender voice.
Life will continue with its soft hot bread,
With day’s oblivion.
All will continue – under outstretched heavens
As if I’d never been!”
Marina Tsvetaeva
The very idea of eternity is as old as humanity itself. A human being always believed there would be another door opening once this finite world comes to an end. “Otherwise what are we living for? If there is nothing that follows, why should we bother with deeds, especially when life is so short?” he has been asking for centuries. Religions succeeded to offer a solution only partially, promising continuation of existence in a spiritual form yet failing to satisfy desires of vain ones. And those vain ones dreamt about preserving their names as much (if not more) as about endless physical existence. Eternal life without eternal fame is nothing but boredom, still, religions never encouraged such ambitions, reserving this privilege for prophets and saints only.
The vain, proud and narcissist had finally discovered the recipe, simple as anything genius, – one’s actions need to be significantly grand to be carved in memory of generations to come. They found the key of true immortality, much more reliable than ephemeral promises of afterlife. “The life of dead is placed in the memory of the living”, professed Cicero whose sharp mind won him a ticket to eternity. And there were many brave, wise and talented whose names and stories reached us from thousands of years ago, yet there also were “kingdoms and kings, and of them no trace has been left, as of a wind that has sped over a desert“.
But what about those, whom life did not grant with any excellence? Don’t they deserve to be remembered? ”They do!” proclaimed Herostratus, setting the Temple of Artemis on fire. Despite all attempts of his contemporaries to erase the very name of Herostratus from human memory, it did survive, giving a hope to less talented and fortunate and also making an edition to the earlier statement – “one’s actions need to be shocking enough to be carved in memory of generations to come”. The new edition proved itself many times, and for every Jesus there was Juda.
But what about those, less talented yet not opting for notoriety, are they doomed for oblivion? Apparently, they aren’t. Simonetta Vespucci, Mona Lisa and Raphael’s “Fornarina” have been on the altar of beauty-admirers for centuries and will remain there. What is their deed? Whereas Simonetta’s “only” achievement was her remarkable, glorified by Italian Renaissance, beauty, Mona Lisa’s ticket to eternity was paid from pockets of her rich husband. Eternal youth and fame of classic Renaissance beauties left many women envious; some even tried to repeat their success. One of them was Marchesa Luisa Casati. Investing in her immortality, this eccentric noble woman created numerous copies of herself in portraits and sculptures by the artists whom she lavishly supported.
The present-day society seems to be infused with narcissism, vanity and hedonism as never before. Countless “selfies” invade social networks and blogs, at times collecting an impressive amount of fans with similar ideas and desires. Whether or not they are haunted by the ambition to remain in human memory, it is very unlikely they ever get there. As never before, technology facilitates creation and distribution of one’s image but it cannot guarantee eternity yet. One day selfies will share the destiny of many nameless faces from old family albums that tickle our curiosity with their silent questions for a few moments before disappearing on the shelf again.
Immortality does not stand ordinary. And even if destiny ever granted ordinary beings with a ticket to eternity, they happened to be fortunate to cross a path of genius and were lit up by their brightness, just as a ray of light reveals dust in the air. How many were enviously staring at Simonetta’s cold and perfect profile, secretly wishing there would be someone wondering about them long after they are gone? Has there been anyone not asking “Why not me?”. Perhaps, we forget that being an inspiration to an Artist is a rare talent which means to be a Co-Creator of Art. May there always be the Art, the Artist and the Muse, and may Art remain eternal, saving from oblivion all those who desire and deserve it.
Random thoughts 
Fantastic. This is why I started lifewall.org and hope people find it and make it grow one tile at a time. Its a wall for humanity. For all who have graced this earth. Why should only the rich, infamous and famous be the only ones remembered…How many have walked this earth and been forgotten? Its if you were in our creative meetings when we hatched this idea….great post.
Many thanks for reading! I´ve checked lifewall.org and it sounds interesting. Nowadays many seem to be obsessed with eternal memory yet only a few will get there. Ironically, no matter how hard we try, we can never know whether or not we succeed…
What motivated us to start was how social media has trivialized our lives.. we post a passing after “I just had a taco.” The other motivation was a place for the oppressed to post without repercussions as we require no sign ups or personal information. The eternal part came from some of us getting to the age where we wonder what have we done and what do we leave behind….how does the world know we walked here.
Immortality lies in harnessing the Eternal Moment. Properly.
From the quote above, Odysseus was an idiot; any fool can destroy—but it takes genius to create. So who really is the immortal, that fool Odysseus or the great Homer who wrote (and so created) him?