Do funerals make us sad then because we will miss the deceased, or because funerals force us to confront the morbid fear of our own eventual demise? Do we embrace these rituals because it honours the life and memory of the deceased, or because it provides an effective remedy for the terrifying reminder that — like the deceased — ‘my life is also impermanent’.
Perhaps funerals then serve mainly to alleviate a crippling worry: ‘Will I be remembered? Will I leave something of myself for the future?’ If so, then these emotions might be best understood in terms of a uniquely human Legacy Drive. As Pinker (1997) put it: “Ancestor worship must be an appealing idea to those who are about to become ancestors.”
As Albert Camus (1956) put it: “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
References
Birnbaum G, Hirschberger G, Goldenberg J (2011) Desire in the face of death: Terror management, attachment, and sexual motivation. Personal Relationships 18 1-19.
Camus A (1956) The Rebel. Alfred A.Knopf, New York.
Dobzhansky T (1967) The Biology of Ultimate Concern. The New American Library, New York.
Goldenberg JL (2013) Immortal objects: The objectification of women as terror management. Objectification and (De)humanization 60: 73-95.
Mandel N, Smeesters D (2007) Shop ‘til you drop: the effect of mortality salience on consumption quantity. Advances in Consumer Research 34: 600-601.
Schultz N (2008) Morbid thoughts make us reach for the cookie jar. New Scientist 198: 12.
Pinker S (1997) How the Mind Works. Norton, New York.
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