The Denial File
What We Can't Think About—and Why
Fist Come, Fist Served
Kirby Farrell | February 10, 2012
What we can’t think about: The goal of political debates is not to test ideas but to kill the losing candidate. “Newt Gingrich Fails To …
Our Culture of Illusion
Bill Bornschein | February 7, 2012
In my theology class we are studying the classic spiritual journey, a widespread archetypal pattern. The pattern is similar to the Hero’s Journey as described …
Glossing the Gilding on Guilt
Henry Richards | January 27, 2012
A conversation on the Becker LinkedIn Discussion Group centered on guilt (thanks to Liz), and I would like to offer some observations about guilt here …
Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich Are Right On!
Daniel Liechty | January 25, 2012
Gary Hart is calling for a new debate about capitalism and I fully agree. Think about it. One group of capitalist investors looks for …
The Psychic Bartender: Hangman’s Lunch
Kirby Farrell | January 20, 2012
People can’t think clearly enough to justify killing. Sooner or later, in court or out, our unseen motives will always betray us into absurdity or …
Becker and Hobbes
Bruce Floyd | January 17, 2012
This weekend I found myself reading a little about Thomas Hobbes, who, or so it seems to me, anticipates Becker somewhat in that Hobbes believed …
Occupy the Toolbox
Kirby Farrell | January 13, 2012
Yes, once again it’s time for the world to end. Apocalyptic thinking never wholly goes away. In good times reason sometimes reduces end-times fantasies to …
To What End?
Bill Bornschein | January 10, 2012
An aspect of Ernest Becker’s work that has always intrigued me is his treatment of anality. In The Denial of Death he characterizes it as …
Corporate Social Responsibility
Daniel Liechty | January 6, 2012
Somewhere along the line, we seem to have swallowed the idea that the sole purpose of corporations is to maximize profits for their shareholders. Recently, …
Death in Venice
Bruce Floyd | January 3, 2012
A few days ago I found myself once again reading Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice,” which to me is much more than the story of …
The Plot of Mind Is Death
Henry Richards | December 30, 2011
What do we make of Hemingway’s observation that every story, if we take it far enough, ends in a death? I attribute this observation to …
The Psychic Bartender: Hangman’s Lunch
Kirby Farrell | December 27, 2011
Nobody likes to think that innocent people might be put to death in a nation whose leaders are getting comfortable with the legitimacy of torture …
“Occupy!” Get the Pendulum Moving Again!
Daniel Liechty | December 21, 2011
In response to a recent blog, one reader commented: There has been recent discussion of underlying similarities between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall …
Choose Your Illusions with Care
Bill Bornschein | December 16, 2011
“Choose your illusions with care, tend them with wisdom, and may The Farce be with you.” With this blessing (curse?) I end my classes each …
Death: 10 years after 9/11
Sheldon Solomon | December 7, 2011
September 11, 2001, was all about death. While humans share with all forms of life a basic biological predisposition toward self-preservation, we are exceptional in …
Making Connections
Bruce Floyd | November 29, 2011
One of the self-indulgent joys of literature is “making a connection”; that is, reading a line in one book that reminds you of a line …
Libertarianism?? No thank you!!
Daniel Liechty | November 18, 2011
The nice folks at the Cato Institute have a new website for us promoting their libertarian ideology (www.libertarianism.org). Oy… Well, like many others, I also …
Too Much Life
James Lieberman | November 15, 2011
Earth now holds 7 billion people. Some of us can recall when it was only 3 billion (1960). The human population on earth reached one …
Don’t Just Talk the Talk…Walk the Walk
Henry Richards | November 8, 2011
I am flying back from Toronto and have been contemplating our use of signals, symbols, signs and space, and how these act together musically, merge, …