The immortality project
How legacy weaves meaning through mortality
"I want to be remembered for doing great things for the world when I'm no longer alive."
This sentiment (one of the lead items in my soon-to-be-released Mortality Attitude Profile) captures something important about our relationship with death.
While we all must face our end one day, many of us work to sustain a bulwark against that end.
We create, we build, we teach, we write, we love. And through these acts, we reach beyond the boundaries of our biological existence.
Mortality legacy - the drive to leave something meaningful behind after we're gone - stands as the most substantial dimension in how we relate to our mortality.
Far from being a morbid preoccupation, this legacy orientation correlates with better health habits, more effective stress management and spiritual growth.
The generative side of death awareness
For many years, our cultural and scientific understanding of death awareness has been dominated by Terror Management Theory. The idea that contemplating mortality primarily invokes fear and anxiety. This perspective - while valid, I talk about it all the time! - tells only half the story.
When researchers developed the Multidimensional Mortality Awareness Measure and Model (MMAMM), they discovered something important: mortality awareness isn't just about fear.
For many people, acknowledging death becomes a catalyst for meaning, connection and transcendence.
This is where legacy enters.
Rather than cowering before death, those with a legacy orientation engage with mortality by asking: "What will I leave behind? How will I be remembered? What meaning can my life create that will outlasts me?"
Legacy beyond possessions
While financial inheritances and material possessions certainly constitute one form of legacy, research spotlights a more profound tradition gaining renewed interest: the ethical will.
Dating back through Jewish tradition and appearing across cultures, an ethical will isn't about distributing property but transmitting values, wisdom, life lessons and love. It's a non-legal document meant to share what matters most: the distillation of a life's meaning and purpose.
As one palliative care study noted:
"When planning for the end of life, older adults view values and life lessons as the most important things to pass on through a legacy to loved ones."
This form of legacy-making serves a dual purpose.
For the author, creating an ethical will provides an opportunity for life review, meaning-making and a sense of completion.
For readers, it offers guidance, connection to their roots and emotional comfort during bereavement.
Legacy orientation takes many forms. From the subtle to the grand. The research identifies ten key manifestations, including:
Creating something original that outlives you
Leaving behind records of your life through photographs, diaries or writings
Passing on your values and beliefs to future generations
Contributing to charitable causes that carry your name or intentions forward
Living your values authentically so they become your lasting imprint
What I love about these manifestations is their diversity. Legacy isn't reserved for the wealthy, the famous or the exceptionally talented. It's accessible to anyone who meaningfully engages with the question: "What will remain when I am gone?"
By acknowledging death, we gain clarity about what matters most. Legacy orientation doesn't deny death. It transforms our relationship with it.
When we're totally engaged in doing what we love, we transcend death anxiety not through distraction but through purpose.
The finite nature of our time creates the urgency that makes meaningful action possible. It creates the frame that gives our legacy its definition and power.
Finding your pattern
So if all that’s true, how might you approach your own legacy?
My development of distinct Mortality Attitudes reveals three types that are significant in their legacy focus. You may be…
The Legacy Weaver
You actively create meaning in the present moment, using resources and relationships to build something lasting. You find joy in the process of legacy-making itself, not just in imagining future impact. This typically only happens for people over-60.
The Fearful Visionary
You hold powerful ideas about your potential contribution but you can find yourself paralysed by anxiety. You may benefit most from connecting your fear to purposeful action.
The Legacy Dreamer
You envision meaningful contributions but struggle with implementing them. You might possess creative vision but may battle self-doubt or feel overwhelmed by the gap between aspiration and action. (This by the way, is me).
Which pattern resonates with you? None of them may do, which means your likely another one of the four types.
Recognising your legacy-focused attitude type offers a pathway to more intentional legacy-building, allowing you to leverage strengths and address obstacles specific to your relationship with mortality.
Perhaps most surprising in the research around mortality awareness is the strong correlation between legacy orientation and positive health behaviours.
People focused on creating meaningful legacies demonstrate:
Greater health responsibility (taking ownership of wellbeing)
More consistent spiritual growth
Better stress management techniques
Improved nutrition habits
Higher levels of physical activity
This suggests that legacy orientation isn't just psychologically adaptive. It manifests physically.
When we live for something beyond ourselves, we tend to take better care of these fleshy vessels that carry our contributions forward.
How death awareness births meaning
Legacy orientation transforms death from terminus to transition. Rather than seeing mortality as merely an endpoint, those with strong legacy focus understand death as a doorway through which certain aspects of themselves (their values, creations, influences and loves) can pass.
Mortality awareness becomes not a morbid preoccupation but a midwife to meaning. It asks us not just "How will you die?" but "How will you live so that something of value continues?"
When we engage with this question seriously, we don't just prepare for a good death. We create a more purposeful life.
Legacy orientation doesn't eliminate death anxiety, but it places that anxiety in conversation with something equally powerful: the human capacity to create meaning that outlasts us.
But how might we develop a healthier relationship with legacy? I feel there are a few paths available to us:
Engage in life review: Regularly reflect on your values, contributions and the mark you hope to leave. I’ve been an ardent practitioner of the Year Compass, and recommend it to everyone.
Create tangible legacies: Whether through ethical wills, creative works, mentorship or charitable giving, building concrete expressions of your values is such a powerful way to alleviate existential anxieties.
Live your values visibly: The most powerful legacy often comes not from what we say but from how we live our daily lives. As Maya Angelou said: “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Connect across generations: Build relationships with both older and younger people to strengthen your sense of where you fit in the human story.
Address mortality directly: Rather than avoiding the reality of death, use awareness of it as motivation for meaningful action.
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of legacy is that it transforms the monologue of death into a dialogue across time.
Through our legacies, we continue to speak to those who come after us.
Mortality becomes not just an ending but an invitation to consider what really matters. What of ourselves is worth preserving and passing forward. When we engage seriously with legacy, we don't just prepare for death; we more fully inhabit life.
The question isn't whether you'll leave a legacy. Everyone does.
The question is what kind of legacy will you create and how will you shape it with intention or will you leave it entirely to chance.
Legacy offers not immortality but something perhaps more valuable: the opportunity to matter beyond the brief span of our days.
To become, in some small but significant way, part of the ongoing human story.
Join us! Final 3 seats for March cohort of Mortals
As we explore these profound connections between mortality awareness and legacy creation, I'm pleased to announce that just three seats remain for our next online cohort, starting on Wednesday 5 March at 7:30pm for 5 weeks.
This intimate group experience offers a rare opportunity to explore your own mortality legacy alongside fellow travelers on this journey.
Together, we'll examine how acknowledging death can transform into a powerful catalyst for meaning-making and intentional living.
Through structured explorations, meaningful conversations, and practical exercises, you'll develop concrete strategies for weaving a legacy that authentically represents your values and vision.
Whether you're a Legacy Dreamer who needs support translating vision into action, a Legacy Weaver seeking to refine your creation process, or a Fearful Visionary ready to transform anxiety into purpose, this cohort provides the container for meaningful growth.
The journey of mortality awareness isn't meant to be walked alone.
Reserve your place before these final spots are claimed and take the first step toward shaping a legacy that truly matters.