That’s a sharp one.
Spark is pointing at the idea that mortality gives life its flavor, urgency, and edge. Without the awareness that things end, nothing feels precious. No deadline, no stakes. Love, beauty, time, even boring Tuesday afternoons get their charge from the fact that they’re finite.
“Insipid” is such a brutal word, too. Not tragic, not meaningless — just flat. Like death-consciousness is what keeps life from going bland.
It also feels very Muriel Spark: elegant, cutting, a little unsentimental.
A loose paraphrase:
Life only becomes vivid and meaningful when we remember it won’t last forever.
Or even more bluntly:
Death is what makes life taste like something.
If you want, I can also unpack this quote in an existentialist, spiritual, or literary way.
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