The Denial of Death | Ernest Becker | May allow you to turn a corner in your life

The Denial of Death | Ernest Becker | Required Reading

books:

The Denial of Death

	The Denial of Death Ernest Becker Free Press, 1997 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

May allow you to turn a corner in your life

I derived many things from Ernest Becker's "Denial of Death". I went from agnostic in my outlook about the universe to Christian, realizing that "The Denial of Death" is fundamentally an anatomy of evil, a diagram of man's skewering in a universe he finds wholly incomprehensible. Taken on its own, this book can be cause for serious reflection of one's ambitions in life; Becker carefully reveals what man is really up to throughout history. The unfolding horror of the book's pages begin to describe a hopeless and paradoxical situation for human life. Anyone who allows Becker's thoughts to sink in...to really understand what he is saying will, in my opinion, continue to seek out answers about human nature and the condition of our world. The relevance of "Denial" is that it can be applied as a psychoanalytical tool for viewing mankind through the ages, from primitive being to Donald Trump. Some argue that this book is too pessimistic, too dark of a view of mankind. Again, very correct! Becker is, in my understanding of this profound book, simply describing the mechanism of evil, where man goes awry and why he continues to act in ways contrary to what he knows best. Anyone who has read The Bible, cover-to-cover, will find in these pages an intellectual's 285-page descripiton of evil, based in human nature, acted upon by man in his world. There are few solutions to the portrait of evil that Becker so carefully paints for us. The pan-drippings, so to speak, of "The Denial of Death" is Becker's next and last book, "Escape from Evil". This makes perfect sense, as "Denial" is a careful and horrifying analysis of ourselves against the universe. What Becker describes in "Denial" is so penetrating that little hope is found in "Escape". One year after reading "Denial" I was convinced that man, indeed, destroys his world because of his very nature, his false illusions about what is meaningful. Where "Denial of Death" gives you a diagram of what's wrong with man, The Bible offers hope only through the Christian God--man is born in a world that will corrupt him--Becker explains the details of this corruption. The Bible asks, in essence, for you to reject your nature and live "the narrow path". Becker shows you how wide the evil path is and why man conceives of it. I am a student of human nature. My only "escape from evil" was a complete paradigm change for man. Man, burdened with his ego and a zillion personal attributes, is condemmed to live in a world of paradoxes, a world of hypocricy and a world of perpetual angst and agression, both starting and ending at zero. Man exerts great energy going nowhere, like a hampster running fast on a wheel. The illusion he props us is that he is actually moving, but Becker takes us outside of the cage and shows us what is really happening. The integrity and truth of a book lies in its inability to be reconciled, just like the true artist who asks more questions than he answers. You owe it to yourself to read this and then try to reconcile it in your mind. "Denial of Death" is a needed rung on your ladder of intellectual evolution. Some are beyond the material and already understand it. Some will be paralyzed by it, others will deny it...but if you integrate what he is saying, and attempt to construct your life knowing that you are living a paradox, you can step up to the next rung on your ladder and move your mind forward. The next rung on my ladder of evolution was a spiritual awakening towards God. What book can do that?

for more information click here

Required Reading

I read this book when it was first published in 1974 and have read it once a year ever since. It does nothing less than inform the reader what motivates human beings to do the things they do! It should be required reading for every man and woman on the planet so that humanity can build a genuine hero system that will lead the species to its true potential.

My Experiece of "The Denial of Death"

Although slanted toward the general reader, "The Denial of Death"is heavily weighted with neoFreudian concepts. A reader requires more than a passing familiarity with Freud and the development of the psychanalytic movement to make sense of significant sections of the book. At the same time, there are sections that no one should miss reading. These sections alone earn five stars. Coupled with the more technical and peculiar concepts of contemporary psychoanalhysis, however, my experience of the work averages at three stars.

for more information click here

The Denial of Death

Good book! Not a page turner. It takes some deep thinking and understanding. Well worthwhile!

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

products you might be interested in