On leaving a mark
“What we do echoes in eternity.” - Marcus Aurelius
People have felt the need to leave their mark since forever. The oldest clear symbolic mark left by a human is a rock painted with red stripes, made approximately 73,000 years ago. Thanks to this mark, we know about his existence and even get a glimpse of his values and thoughts. Humans have a primal need to leave their mark, their legacy. We all left our marks somewhere. It could be a name written on a wall, a drawing etched somewhere, something as ethereal as writing in the sand, or the classic “x was here”.
But why do we feel the need to?
Feeling the need to leave your mark is tied to psychological and social drives. Society at its core is identity, existence, and leaving your legacy. We build our presence, expand our assets, start families and leave offspring to do the same again. We are aware of our mortality, and leaving our mark gives us some solace and comfort, because it’s a way of “existing” after our inevitable death.
However, not all is just for ourselves. We also create to share our ideas and beliefs. Leaving marks helps us influence others and be remembered. On a deeper level it also satisfies our desire to have control over time and memory. It’s our rebellion against time. We cannot stop time, but we can leave evidence that we have existed, thought, and felt, while creating something that may outlast us.
Thank you for reading, and being part of my ongoing legacy ;]
Enjoyed the article? Subscribe to my RSS feed :D