The Denial of Death
Although the physicality of death destroys man, the idea of death saves him.
Irvin D. Yalom • Existential Psychotherapy
Since the main task of human life is to become heroic and transcend death, every culture must provide its members with an intricate symbolic system that is covertly religious. This means that ideological conflicts between cultures are essentially battles between immortality projects, holy wars. One
Ernest Becker • The Denial of Death
have come to understand that one may repress not just sexuality but one's whole creaturely self and especially its finite nature.
Irvin D. Yalom • Staring at the Sun
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
... See moreNathaniel Branden • Honoring the Self: The Pyschology of Confidence and Respect
"Some refuse the loan of life to avoid the debt of death." This dynamic is not uncommon. I think most of us have known individuals who numb themselves and avoid entering life with gusto because of the dread of losing too much.