Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.
Ernest BeckerRead
When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that humans must create meaning in their lives, and love plays a crucial role in that process.
Ernest Becker's quote reflects on the unique human condition where unlike any other animal, humans are tasked with creating meaning in an otherwise indifferent nature. Love is portrayed as a foundational aspect of this endeavor, serving not just as an emotional bond but as a vital means through which individuals engage with the world and find their own existence.
Themes
MeaningLoveExistenceHumanityNature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a discussion about the nature of human existence in a philosophy class.
More from Ernest Becker
All quotes →The artist takes in the world, but instead of being oppressed by it, he reworks it in his own personality and recreates it in the work of art.
Ernest BeckerRead
When you confuse personal love and cosmic heroism you are bound to fail in both spheres. The impossibility of the heroism undermines the love, even if it is real. This double failure is what produces the sense of utter despair that we see in modern man... Love, then, is seen a religious problem
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All power is in essence power to deny mortality.
Ernest BeckerRead
If the love object is divine perfection, then one's own self is elevated by joining one's destiny to it... All our guilt, fear, and even our mortality itself can be purged in a perfect consummation with perfection itself.
Ernest BeckerRead
Each society is a hero system which promises victory over evil and death.
Ernest BeckerRead
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