The Ancient Path of Dying - Sam Keen

 The basic motivation for human behavior is the need
to control our basic anxiety, to deny death in a world
where we are fated to die.  This is the terror: to have
emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness
of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning
for life and self-expression - and with all this yet die.

Since the terror of death is so overwhelming we conspire
to keep it unconscious.  The "vital lie character"
[personality] is the first line of defense that protects
us from the painful awareness of our helplessness...

Every child creates a personality...
So long as we stay obediently within the defense
mechanisms of our personality, the "character armor"
we feel safe and are able to pretend to avoid death.
And life escapes us while we huddle within the defended
fortress of "character" [personality].

But there's an ancient path of wisdom: practice dying.

Cultivating an awareness of death leads to disillusionment,
loss of the "character armor", and a conscious choice to
abide in the face of terror [death].  Instead of hiding
within the illusion of "character" we see our impotence
and vulnerability.  Living with the voluntary consciousness
of death, we can choose despair or trust the "vitality of the
cosmos", in the unknown god of life whose mysterious
"purpose" is expressed in the overwhelming drama of
cosmic evolution.

Sam Keen

From the Forward to
The Denial Of Death
by Earnest Becker
1973

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Photo - Mystic Meandering