Reddit reviews The Denial of Death

I'm going to share an unfavorable opinion here. One of the "incarcerating" views he is referring to is death anxiety. Beyond the constraints of moral sexual behavior and other cultural norms, suicide is the ultimate taboo across all of humanity; e.g. "this life is precious, and death is to be avoided at all costs until necessary or unavoidable." Ernest Becker wrote a book about it, called The Denial of Death. Consequently, anyone who challenges the sanctity of life is warranted as having a mental illness or some sort of imbalance. This is hard-wired into our species because it allows us to procreate and prosper. Even in the realms of philosophy, it is often beaten down with accusations of solipsism and nihilism. Death is only glorified in our mythologies and on the battlefields. But when death is brought upon oneself, it's instantly cowardice... Before you pass judgment, realize there are many ancient traditions about "spiritual suicide." The most prominent that comes to mind is the practice of Sallekhana in Jainism (suicide by fasting). There are certainly psychiatric cases of severe depression that unfortunately end in suicide, however it is a mistake to assume that every suicide is the result of mental illness.

> I have learned one thing I’m not going till it’s actually time for me to go.

You have amazing perspective! I have had enough proof of that in my life to convince me of that. Death is just as much a part of life as birth. I was fortunate enough to serve as a friend's death doula and her death from terminal cancer went very much like a labor and delivery, but in reverse. It was THE most beautiful experience of my life, which is why I am now choosing to serve as a death doula for others.

I hope you both won't mind if I suggest the Pulitzer prize winning book by Ernest Becker called Denial of Death:

"Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie -- man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than twenty years after its writing."

Wishing you both godspeed when your time comes!

You may benefit from sampling the /r/philosophy sub. My personal recommendation: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker Sorry you're being bullied/harassed - if you're fearing for your life don't hesitate to call the police. You may also request more police patrols in an area.

What's a more likely explanation, that the Book of Mormon is translated from an ancient record of a massive Hebrew civilisation in the Americas which somehow vanished without a trace given what we know about the evidence left behind by older and smaller civilisations, or that it is the product of a nineteenth century frontier American man's fastastical imagination?

What's more likely, that there is some spooky non-material "spirit" stuff that sounds like the fantastical stuff primtive people cook up to explain things that they didn't understand or couldn't cope with (oblivion), or that the human brain is capable of generating the experience of flashes of images or sequences sounds within itself, especially under extreme stress, and given that you already have experience with this property of the brain when you have dreams and nightmares, and you've probably in your line of work had to deal with all sorts of people with malfunctioning brains who have seen, and continue to see, all sorts of crazy shit they "cannot deny" because their inner mentally generated phenomena seems more real to them than whatever accurate information about the real world their senses are conveying to them.

Even so, it's can't possibly be "all for nothing". I suggest Ronald Dworkin's Religion Without God and Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death.

I'm not sure anyone has a real good way of coping with the fact they are going to die, mainly because no one living has ever experienced it. Rather, I choose to focus on living, on making the most of this tiny little life I'm a part of now. The thought of death still brings me terror, I don't want to die, period. When I hear someone say they've accepted death, they're not anxious about it, I immediately right them off as either a phony or someone with absolutely no self-awareness.

Basically, stop trying to cope with death and start focusing on creating what you experience as a meaningful life!

Consider watching the fantastic documentary Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality, it changed my perspective immensely. Also, Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death is fucking mind blowing.

I would recommend reading the book The Denial of Death. It will help you understand your mind, it goes through child psychology as well as existential philosophy. The things you feel are pretty natural once you have seen through the illusion society helped you construct as a child.

Turn your passive nihilism into active nihilism. Create things you want, even if you don't know the everlasting point or meaning in what you're creating, it'll have some short term point and meaning to you.

I have never met a happy passive nihilist.

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

A deep book without doubt. This book shows how central death is to our lives. The author died of cancer a year after the book was published.

1. The True Believer
   
2. The Denial of Death
   
3. God Is Not Great

Yes, I agree, the basic problem is the denial of death. Becker's book on this is the most comprehensive that I have read: https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402

I have a strong fear of death too, but I think that planning to do cryonics has helped me to alleviate some of it. I'm glad to hear that thinking about death-related topics helps your anxiety.

The philosopher Ernest Becker explores this concept in-depth in his award winning book The Denial of Death. It's worth checking out if youre interested in this:

Denial of Death

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but what came to mind immediately was The Denial of Death

The book The Denial of Death goes into this. It can be a bit dense but the tl;dr is, humans don't want to die and create institutions and rituals that allow us to deny that we will die. For many that comes from the church, nationalism or the drive to "leave a legacy."

https://www.amazon.com/Escape-Evil-Ernest-Becker/dp/0029024501

https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402

To be honest in my sleep. I don't want to feel the pain of dying and I think that that is a peaceful way to go. I hope that I will be remembered by family and friends. My biggest fear besides death is fading into time, which I know it is inevitable. Just the thought of fading as if I never exisited or never affected the world gives me panick attacks. If anyone is intrested in the way the fear of death effects the way we think check out The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

You should read this book.

>Should we care why people are religious?

Yes, because only if we understand why, will we be able to change minds. For many, it is an emotional reason, and for us to say, their emotions don't matter, is us continuing to leave them in their current state.

Instead if we understand their reasons, we may be better able to change their minds.

I would recommend a book called, The Denial of Death, by Ernest Becker. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974.

https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/

If you understand the underlying fear of non-existence, and the deep desire to say we get to live forever in some fantasy land and that real death does not exist, then you can address the emotional side of religion and allow people to make more rational decisions.

I mean, you are in a Death and Dying class, for pete's sake. Of course you should care why people are religious. That's a main reason why people are religious, so should be a main issue for the class.

After you read Michael's book, you must read this one, the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winner on the same subject, but from an academic and a historical perspective:

https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538507380&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=denial+of+death&dpPl=1&dpID=51Vh3k5wdfL&ref=plSrch

I don't know if Ernest Becker ever called himself an existential nihilist, but The Denial of Death is widely regarded as a book full of existential nihilist themes.

Yep x10

The fear of death is the mainspring of human activity - Ernest Becker

Well, you're struggling with nothing less than the great human dilemma -- we're animals with the knowledge that we're going to die. The stuff of philosophy and art and literature and religion throughout the ages. Humans have been trying to come to terms with death since we came into existence.

I also worried about this a lot in my 20's. I worked through it, and you can too. Reading philosophy and literature helped, and learning about different religions' ideas about death. My favorite book is ["The Denial of Death"](http://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408951036&sr=1-1& keywords=the+denial+of+death+ernest+becker) by Ernest Becker. I cried while reading it because it spoke to me so much. Also, learning about quantum theory.

I think once you have more of an idea of what you want your life to be about, and start moving in that direction, the fear of dying diminishes, at least somewhat.

NGAF about death? Good luck with that.

I bet you would enjoy this book though: The Denial of Death It's about how so much of civilization can be interpreted as being built around denying death, and about all the issues a person has to deal with when they decide to face squarely the fact of their inevitable demise.

It's on the wiki I linked but, in case you didn't catch it, give The Denial of Death a read. If you're anything like me, it will irrevocably alter your perception of your own feelings and belief system.

I think stoicism or cynicism might be interesting to you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism

There's also a book called The Denial of Death that talks about religions as responses to realizing you're dying. https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402

If you want to sort through some of these feelings with a little help, I want to recommend you a book I really like which deals with death and how to relate to it, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. It will introduce you to existensialism and it's concepts.

The reason I recommend this book is not because it's a Pulizer Prize winning book, but because the way to get rid of fear and anxiety is to face it, confront it, and ultimately learn from it. This book may help you do that. It might not, but since you're alive, you might as well try. Don't you think?

Whatever you do, do NOT read existentialist books.

All that will do is reinforce and rationalize your own depressed thinking. Existentialism is rationalized depression.

Try something with actually proven CBT psychological theory. Like "Overcoming Depression" by Paul Gilbert.

Or if you want something a bit more philosophical, try "The Denial of Death." In a way, it also is existentialist and reinforces the depressive premise, but it also describes the way out, through transcending the individual self. That book is what turned me from a depressive libertarian to a happy ethnonationalist.