Ernest Becker 1: Of mouths, digestive tracts and anuses…

~ Roger JG Albert

From January 28, 2014. This is the first post in the series I wrote on Becker. From today on, I will reblog posts from my archives on Becker. Maybe some of you will be turned on to read Becker’s books: Escape From Evil and The Denial of Death.

Roger Albert - Always a Sociologist: Now Living With Myeloma

So, for the next 30 days (probably more) at the rate of one quote per day, I’m going to go through Ernest Becker’s Escape From Evil (EFE) drawing out quotes I feel are particularly powerful.  Becker’s widow and her publisher published EFE in 1975 a year after Becker’s death from cancer in a Vancouver hospital.  I consider EFE to be one of the 5 non-fiction books that has had the greatest impact on me.  I’ve read hundreds, if not thousands, of books and many have moved me, but not many to the extent that this book has.  Sometime, I’ll discuss the other four, but for now, it’s Becker I want to deal with.

My plan is to start on page 1 and go through the book until I get to page 170, the last page of text, pulling out quotes that strike me as particularly interesting and that will contribute…

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2 thoughts on “Ernest Becker 1: Of mouths, digestive tracts and anuses…”

  1. Good for you Roger! EFE confirmed and clarified many of the socially constructed obstacles I have encountered all my life! Such clarity! I am forever your debt for bringing Becker to my attention while at NIC. Reading your blogs has motivated me to read it again. I have not read “Denial” yet but will dig up a copy and dig in. Another book that provided clarity for me was Tim Flannery’s “The Eternal Frontier”. It is a book I revisit when I am so troubled by modern bullshit and ignorance as it puts it in the proper perspective. We are but a mote in a universe so vast and interesting that even the hundreds of millions of years this planet has existed is puny. Not insignificant perhaps but certainly nothing is as important as pleasure with a clear understanding of mortality. As Rabidranath Tagore said, “Thus I enjoy life so shall I enjoy death.” Love you man!

    Jack (250) 792-4670

    On Nov 15, 2017 8:33 AM, “Roger Albert – Always a Sociologist” wrote:

    > Roger JG Albert posted: “From January 28, 2014. This is the first post in > the series I wrote on Becker. From today on, I will reblog posts from my > archives on Becker. Maybe some of you will be turned on to read Becker’s > books: Escape From Evil and The Denial of Death. ” >

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    1. Thanks, Jack.
      I just bought Flannery’s book. We have a couple of his other books and find him well worth reading. He complements Becker quite nicely. I love the quote you ended your comment with.
      Love you too, Jack!

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