Of late, I am wooed by Ernest Becker, specifically his book The Denial of Death, published in 1974. A mid-century anthropologist, Becker wrote powerfully about the things that motivate modern people. Our greatest motivation, according to Becker is denying we’re all headed for the grave.
On the podcast The Gray Area, Sean Illing summarizes Becker’s work in one concise statement: “The big thesis [of Becker’s work] was that the majority of human behavior is driven by an unconscious desire to ignore our own mortality—that we do what we do, attach ourselves to the things we attach ourselves to, in order to avoid the reality of our eventual extinction.” Becker believed we are so motivated by this avoidance that we perennially look for ways to become the heroes of our own lives and worlds. This can take the archetypal form of Warrior or Healer; but it can also take the form of roles like Mother or even Good Person. We all ask: what can I do to make myself heroic and thus (at least metaphorically) immortal?
Our avoidance and denial of death is fairly obvious in eschatologically-oriented religions that focus more on “eternal life after death,” than on making this life meaningful; but so too is it obvious in our secular avoidance projects—the projects by which we amass more and more money status enjoyment influence in order that we might “live on.” Religion or no, everyone is doing it, according to Becker. He called these efforts our immortality projects…. {Read remainder of column on Patheos HERE.}