[THEME MUSIC]
So there's an amazing documentary
called "Flight from Death," in which an expert introduces
the concept of terror management theory.
Now, terror management theory was coined by Ernest Becker
to describe the ways in which the human being responds
to the unbearable awareness of the mortal coil,
like the fact that we know that we
are born with a death sentence.
And to use our life with an agitation
that we have to respond to in some kind
of either creative or destructive capacity.
And that is known as terror management theory-- how
we manage the terror of creation and mortality.
And there's a line in the film that's really poignant.
One of the guys says the explicit awareness
that you're a breathing piece of defecating meat destined
to die, and ultimately, no more significant
than a lizard or a potato is not especially uplifting.
And you know, it really sets up the premise.
It's like what do we do, right?
We're a creature that can ponder the infinite, that
can contemplate infinity, that can
ponder the origins of the ten trillion atoms that
make us a sentient mind that were cooked
in the furnaces of stars billions of years ago,
ultimately-- and at the same time,
look in the mirror every day and witness
our own decay over time.
The human situation is absurd.
There's something romantic in the ways in which we respond
to this angst in our poems and in our artistry.
But nonetheless, there's a sadness
inherent to just our humanness.
There's a sadness to that awareness.
[THEME MUSIC]