Fear of Life: The Wisdom of Failure

Freud's novel framework suggests that the neuroses are not illnesses in the accepted sense, but a consequence of incomplete development, reawakened infantile desires and unmastered childhood conflicts.

When you experience a fear, like the ones on your list, what do you do about it? The great psychoanalytical theorist Karen Horney identified three ways people deal with fear: move away from it, fight it or move toward it. Most people move away from their fears—an act of denial or avoidance psychoanalysts call “repression.” And the consequences of s

The rebellion against the inevitability of death results in a rebellion against the challenges and opportunities of life. If I refuse to live fully, I cannot die. So: fear of autonomy entails fear of self-responsibility entails fear of identity entails fear of aloneness entails fear of death. That which does not exist cannot perish. This issue is o

Most people do exactly the opposite. Without realizing that the past is constantly determining their present actions, they avoid learning anything about their history. They continue to live in their repressed childhood situation, ignoring the fact that it no longer exists. They are continuing to fear and avoid dangers that, although once real, have