From the recommendation of Kelly O’Brien I have started reading The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker which discusses man’s inability to accept death. Becker uses Freudian theory and psychoanalysis to support his life’s study and often refers back to this throughout his discussions. The basic overview of Becker’s thesis is that us humans are mortal beings and we are aware of that. Meaning that we are subject to dying and we know that the day we die will come at some point. However, Becker believe that the reason so many people have a fear of dying is because if we were subject to the possibility that we could die any second, we’d be anxious at all times. Therefore, the brain creates this denial of death as a coping mechanism. Nevertheless, Becker believe that some of the consequences because of this can be quite dangerous. For example, if you look at Religion, Becker believes religion or ‘immortality system’ as he refers to it, are created as a way to provide ultimate immortality reasoning. However, this ultimate belief in this one system then causes disagreements between others and causes violence and death. In my opinion that makes religions rather contradictory. However, Becker does go on to discuss those select people who do believe in religion but are detached from the immortal side of it. This is where he brings in psychoanalysts Kierkegaard who argues that some people are able to face up to the ultimate reality of death, such as Zen Buddhists. At this point, Becker refers to Ortega who says, “the man with the clear head is the man who frees himself from lose fantastic ‘ideas’… and looks life in the face, realises that everything is problematic”. That’s a basic overview of the book, but it goes in to a lot more detail and brings in philosophy, psychology, medical views etc as a way to explain this denial of death. I haven’t read the whole book yet, just sections as I have found it’s the sort of theory you need to read little sections at a time as it can be quite over whelming. I am yet to read the sections on mental health and Otto Rank, which I am excited to read as I think it will apply a lot to my practice. However, so far, I am really enjoying the read and a lot of it makes sense in my mind which is really refreshing as I sometimes find theory quite hard to understand. Furthermore, I feel like this theory I am going to be able to relate to my image making, such as this idea of anxiety surrounding death and the fear that entails. Additionally, looking at the idea of religion in regard to death is perfect when looking at the religion of spiritualism.
