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Ernest Becker's Denial Of Death

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Ernest Becker's Denial Of Death
Santasha Bledsoe
November 23, 2014
PSY-100
Lauren Kelley

There are many uncertainties in the world. You have an idea what tomorrow will bring, but the events of that day or the days to follow that for the most part are uncertain. One thing that is certain is that someday, one day, eventually, you or someone you know will die. Death is undefeated when facing us living creatures. Yes, we are all going to die. We know this yet we still refused to believe that we will die and get angry when at such an unfair set up. Get to have this much fun or experience all this just to end? How fair is that? Psychiatrist Elisath Kubler-Ross while working with her terminally ill cancer patients, discovered a pattern of grief, which now is known as …show more content…
In Ernest Becker’s book, The Denial of Death he explains that fear of dying starts in a child between the ages of three and five. A child’s brain isn’t able to grasp something as abstract as not existing anymore because it is constantly surrounded by living things that respond to their every need. Only as time goes on does the child realize that some things tend to not exist and some tend to not exist forever at about the age of nine or ten (Becker 1973). We are in denial for the most part because the fear or not existing, isn’t constantly in our subconscious. If it were we would not be able to function normally. So we repress this anxiety. We grow to learn to live with the fear (Becker 1973). This knowledge we have with facing our own mortality can help in dealing with the “Denial” aspect of coping with …show more content…
We should be able to look back on our life and be able to be proud of our accomplishments and understand that death is permanent and though you cease to exist, your memory and how you lived your life to the very end is what is remembered. Today I watched TV One today to see a panel of people expressing their love for Mayor Marion Barry who died today. He continued to fight thru his own demons, and chronic health issues. The overwhelming theme I got from the panel who was there expressing their love for their departed friend was that he was the king of comebacks. I thought to myself, “His fight and will help them be able to cope with his loss without shedding a tear.” He found purpose in his life and they found purpose in him
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