the best existential analysis
the best existential analysis of the human condition leads directly into the problems of God and faith Ernest Becker
Quotes for All
the best existential analysis of the human condition leads directly into the problems of God and faith Ernest Becker
Obviously, all religions fall far short of their own ideals. Ernest Becker
The man of knowledge in our time is bowed down under a burden he never imagined he would ever have: the overproduction of truth that cannot be consumed. Ernest Becker
What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one is food for worms. Ernest Becker
The irony of man’s condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive. Ernest Becker
Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level. Ernest Becker
It is fateful and ironic how the lie we need in order to live dooms us to a life that is never really ours. Ernest Becker
Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever. Ernest Becker
What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one is food for worms. This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consiousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression … Read more
Lots of people there seemed to be in denial, in absolute denial, of death – everybody’s pretending that death doesn’t happen in L.A.; if you do enough exercise and take enough wheatgrass and have your pill every day, you might not die. Emily Mortimer