The Final Knowledge, 67th Day of Autumn, 525 M.E. (Deneb): On this 67th day of Autumn, I finally set the thermostat to "heat" for the first time this year. Also, I blew off my alternating day walk, not because of the temperature (it's actually quite a pleasant day for walking outside), but because I didn't feel like it. 

"Memento mori" and "impermanence is swift" describes one of the places where stoicism and Zen intersect. The final knowledge is that eventually, at some time as of yet unspecified, we will die. 

Impermanence is truly the reality right in front of our eyes. We need not wait for some teaching from others or proof from some passage of scripture. Born in the morning, dead in the evening, a person we saw yesterday is no longer here today. These are the facts we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. This is what we see and hear about others. Applying this to our own bodies and thinking of the reality of all things, though we expect to live for 70 or 80 years, we die when we must die.

Everybody has a certain amount of food and clothing granted from birth. It does not come about by worrying over it, nor will it cease to come by not seeking it. Similarly, we have a natural share of life we were allotted when we were born. I'm not suggesting some divine gift or predestination, but each of us has a number, unknown to us, of days on this earth, of breaths we will take. Set your own metric - there's an amount of money each of us will earn, a number of times we will enjoy the company of a lover, a number of meals that we will enjoy. Each time we leave the house may be our last, or we may step out a thousand times more. 

With impermanence being certain, but the time of your death being unknown, how will you live your day today?