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How to face death? Though it may seem paradoxical, it is one of life’s most important questions. There is an end to our life on earth, and we can choose not to face death, or face it only in the last moment—unconsciously, this determines how we arrange our lives.

Humans, in contrast to plants and animals, are aware of both their existence and death. We know we will die sooner or later. Or rather, we know and we don’t; we have a cognitive grasp on it, while we can’t comprehend it, because comprehending, empathizing with, our own death would mean being able to transcend our own existence. To think about our mortality, to be aware of it, is not the same as embracing our own death.

Modern man, while probably more advanced in rational and technological terms than ever before, cannot, deep within, cope with the question of death. We posit death as the antithesis of life, and dread the thought of “not being” any more. We do all we can not to think about it, just as we do all we can to ensure we somehow remain immortal.

Délia Vékony