In 1974, Ernest Becker wrote The Denial of Death, a wonderful piece of psychology. While one of the characteristics unique to human beings is their awareness of their own mortality, the brutally obvious fact is that we all die. Becker argues that much of human psychology is built around denying it, deceiving ourselves about it, hiding it from ourselves, and defending ourselves in various ways against this deep existential terror. There is even an Ernest Becker Society founded