Everything Lasts for a Day: Where Do We Go When the Lights Go Out?

[DISCLAIMER]

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

The authors quote ancient Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who stated, “Everything lasts for a day, the one who remembers and the remembered” (page 390). Regarding this matter, I expressed in a blogpost entitled Careless With Time:

[A]t no point within your life have you ever awoken and the current day was yesterday or tomorrow. It is always today. Moreover, there is no five minutes past or five minutes from now. It is always now. […]

From an existentialist lens, I assign meaning to keeping track of time. This is because I understand that everyone will eventually die. On the day we do, it will be today. And in the moment that we no longer exist in this current form, it will be now. […]

Considering this Stoic perspective, how have you ordered your life? Have you been careless with time? Suppose that up until eternity you’ve chosen to scatter the wealth of time. Oh, wait. You may not understand what I mean by “eternity.” For context, Joseph Campbell once stated:

“Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time! Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out,” and, “If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life.”

Given this worldview, suppose that up until eternity you’ve chosen to scatter the wealth of time. Unlike the illusion of the past or future, with an absurd notion that at some distant point in time you will effect change, what can you do about carelessness with time in eternity – in this very moment?

The cited content of that post mirrors Aurelius’ argument, “Everything lasts for a day.” That day is today, because one simply cannot live in yesterday or tomorrow. At some point, metaphorically speaking, each and every person’s lights will inevitably go out (i.e., we die).

When further contemplating this matter, I’m reminded of a recent electronic dance music (EDM) DJ set by Deva Vicci. Specifically, she spun the track “Lights Go Out (Avrix & Deva Vicci Remix )” (2026), a collaboration between Vicci and Avrix.

The original song “Lights Go Out”, by John Summit, was featured on his album Ctrl Escape (2026). The track is a collaboration between Summit, Thom Bridges, Pocket, and Beau Nox. It’s the sort of song to which attendees at an EDM event will likely sing aloud, as the lyrics state:

Where do we go when the lights go out?

When the fucking lights go out

Where do we go when the lights go out?

When the fucking lights go out

Although art is subject to interpretation, as I admit that I don’t have knowledge about what those who made the song intended for it to mean, I contemplate the lyrics through the lens of Stoicism. Metaphorically, one’s lights are on right now (i.e., alive), though will one day go out (i.e., death).

Where do we go when the lights go out, when the fucking lights go out? I haven’t a clue! However, my lights are still on. If you’re reading this, then your lights are also on. From Aurelius’ perspective, our lights last for a proverbial day. Eventually, we all die!

This truth about reality regards “the one who remembers and the remembered,” both you and I. Axiomatically, I’ll die today, and so will you. After all, it will be today when either of our lights go out. Will it be this very day? I haven’t a clue! Yet, it will be today when our lights go out.

Given this framing of life and death, I offer my own remix of “Lights Go Out”: What do we do while our lights are on, when our fucking lights are on? What do we do while our lights are on, when our fucking lights are on? (After all, that’s what genuinely matters, at least for a day.)

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

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