We offer for sale here a small solid sterling silver
smoking pipe with a Memento Mori theme. The pipe is a
limited production item designed and created in our
shop. It comes in two forms, with crossed bones and
with articulated lower jaw. This is the crossed bone
version. It is a genuine usable pipe and whether it is
used (and for what purpose) is up to its owner. The
pipe is 2 3/4 inches long by 1 inch tall. This pipe is
sold exclusively by The Coast Goldsmith.
The pipe is in a Memento Mori form which means that
it is meant to remind the user, or just the observer
of it, that life is transient, all to short and that
it is to be lived! It also is meant to remind us that
death awaits us all, do not put off until tomorrow the
small joys of this life, for tomorrow may never come
and eventually it will not come. The pipe reiterates
this timeless theme using ancient symbolism in a
modern context.
The pipe’s form is that of a skull and crossed
bones still attached to its spinal column. The skull
is the bowl of the pipe and the spinal column is the
stem. The skull wears a wreath of grapes and grape
leaves with a ruby mounted on its forehead. A ribbon
ties the wreath at the back of the skull and then
loosely loops around the spinal column, providing ones
finger's some protection from the heat of the stem.
The ribbon is inscribed with an exhortative Latin
motto. The motto on the ribbon reads, "COMEDO-BIBO-FUMO-CONSIDERO-CACHINO"
and "MEMENTO-MORI." The rough meaning of
this little exhortation is
"EAT-DRINK-SMOKE-CONTEMPLATE! -LAUGH OUT LOUD!
... REMEMBER! -DEATH AWAITS!". This motto may
have an Epicurean, "eat drink and be merry for
tomorrow you die" quality to it but, as in
Epicurean Philosophy, it is more than that. It not
only exhorts the observer-owner-user of the pipe to
"eat, drink etc." but also to see the
universe for what it really is. To contemplate the
incredible smallness and ultimate meaninglessness of
all we strive for in our little short lives. Yet also
it urges us to come to the realization that we tiny
beings are no more meaningless than any of the
greatest of galactic structures and goings on.
In the end all is equal and the same, life and death, big and
small, success and failure. That time does not exist
outside of human consciousness and all time is but the
blink of an unconscious eye. That illusion is an
integral part of "rational consciousness"
and through the experience of an "extra-rational
consciousness, induced the consumption of mild
mind-altering substances (wine, pot or whatever) or
just deep contemplative thought, this great cosmic
joke can at times be revealed in extra-rational
insight. We can then laugh at our terminal yet
infinite interaction with existence and be in on the
joke the universe has played on us all.
Then again it is just a pipe! It smokes, it is
silver, it is cool and it is for sale. Maybe you Dead
Heads would like it!
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