The Denial of Death
The Denial of Death.
Beth Pickens • Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles
Human beings are naturally anxious because we are ultimately helpless and abandoned in a world where we are fated to die. “This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression—and with all this yet to die.”
Ernest Becker • The Denial of Death
We can better appreciate the relationship of death anxiety to the challenges of individuation if we realize that implicit in everything I have been saying thus far is the ultimate defense against death: the refusal to live. If I do not come into existence, I cannot go out of existence. If I do not emerge as a separate entity, there is no one for de
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