If you’re an investor, now is a favorable time to have a long position in longevity. The longevity economy is expected to be valued by 2030. 

Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are actively involved, investing in areas such as , , and .

World leaders are also engaged. In September, a hot mic captured Russia’s Vladimir Putin telling China’s Xi Jinping that “In a few years, with the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted so that people can live younger and younger, and even become immortal.” To which Xi responded that “the prediction is that in this century humans may live to 150 years old.

Longevity is wonderful—of course, we should utilize all the technology at our disposal to extend our for as long as possible. But here’s a heads-up: we’re all going to die. And the peril of chasing the false promise of immortality is that we lose access to the very real and concrete lessons of mortality. Death is one of the most potent tools we have to help us navigate life.

What the end of life can teach us

, author of Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, summarizes what death can teach us: “For millennia, the mystery of death has led us to ask the big, existential questions: Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?” And yet, in our modern world, we’ve relegated death to the realm of medicine and machines. The reality of death has remained unchanged, but we’ve lost our connection to its significance. As we have isolated death from our lives, we’ve also detached ourselves from the big questions. What is a good life? Who are we? Why are we here?

Death is life’s impelling mechanism. It can drive self-exploration, clarify our values, and help us find meaning. 

Death doula Alua Arthur founded her company to assist those at the end of life. But her work with the dying has transformed how she lives her own life. “When I think about my death, I can very clearly see who I want to be, how I want to spend my time, what I want to leave behind, and what I value,” she says. 

 And Australian author Bronnie Ware spent years working in palliative care, and the most common regret she encountered was that people wished they had had the courage to live authentically, not the life others expected of them. “It is very important to try to honor at least some of your dreams along the way,” she . 

Research on those at the end of life shows that our values change as death approaches. At the end, we don’t crave more status or more things, but more connection. A on terminally ill patients found that common reflections include concern for loved ones, gratitude, and spirituality. found that the most commonly discussed topics included accepting one’s imperfections, celebrating and appreciating what one has, giving, and service to others. And a of hospice patients found that they showed “the desire to grow and change at this critical time.” If hospice patients can grow and change at the end of life, why not grow and change now?

The reflections of those at the end of life aren’t just for themselves. They want others to benefit from their insights. A on hospice patients found that “a common exhortation to young people is to avoid focusing too much on acquisition and the internet and instead prioritize social connection and engagement with the natural world.” 

Near-death experiences

Lessons can also come from those who go to the other side of the in-between and return from near-death experiences, or NDEs. It’s a way to absorb what death has to offer while there are often many years of life left to make use of it.

And yet, strangely, we spend so much of our limited time on earth “killing time,” escaping the moment with screens and scrolling.  “It’s like we’re throwing away food, knowing that eventually you’re going to be starving,” writes Sebastian Junger, author of .

Craig Lundahl, professor of sociology at Western New Mexico University, that for most people who survive NDEs, “the idea of life after death became not merely highly probable, but a veritable certainty.”

In a recent New York Times , Chloe Zhao, the Oscar-nominated director of “Hamnet,” explained why she’s becoming a death doula, having recently completed her first stage of training. “I have been terrified of death my whole life,” she said. “And because I’ve been so afraid, I haven’t been able to live fully.” 

She goes on to note the line in “Hamlet” that all living things die, “passing through nature to eternity.” 

It’s a surprising but important lesson to learn: bringing death into our lives is what paradoxically allows us to live more fully.  

We don’t need to defeat death to live well. Death is not a glitch, but a clarifier. Remembering that we’re all in the in-between and that our time is limited can fill that time with meaning, purpose, and connection. The wisdom we seek at the end of life is available to us now.