The Terror of Death and the Passion for Life...Coming Together

The prolific psychiatry luminary Irvin Yalom uses clinical case histories to discuss death anxiety and existentialism in his new book Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death. In his review of Yalom's book, Paul Wong reflects,

Our unique human capacity to reflect on our existence, anticipate our own demise, and imagine the horrible details of dying inevitably creates a sense of terror. Death awareness, no matter how vague, poses a constant threat and makes us uncomfortable because we can never escape from the long shadow of death...In spite of the predominance of death in human existence, it is helpful to recognize that there is deep within us a reservoir of passion for life, a longing for meaning and happiness, no matter how dreadful the circumstances.

Wong challenges the reader to syncretize one's deep awareness of death with an embrace of the passion for life. Is this a realistic notion or purely idealistic? Practically speaking, how might one accomplish this? Can the embrace of one enhance the awareness of the other?

Read the Review

Positive Existential Psychotherapy and Pathways to Death Acceptance
By Paul T. P. Wong
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2009 Vol 54(8)

Comments

[Ajlouny]

I feel like the fear of how you will die to be terrifying, then knowing that your going to die. When I speak to my friends and family about death, I have heard over and over again that the wish is to die in your sleep at a very ripe age after a fulfilling long life. Death is an accepted fact.