Ernest Becker - A negação da Morte 

Tradução: Resumos dos Escritos Completos de Ernest Becker

Daniel Liechty · 2017 Capítulo Sete: "O Feitiço Lançado pelas Pessoas - O Nexo da Falta de Liberdade", pp. 127-158.

Existe uma escravidão inegável embutida na alma humana. Como os seres humanos precisam extrair sua força para viver de algo fora de si mesmos, eles simultaneamente adoram e temem o poder, entregando voluntariamente sua lealdade àqueles que o detêm. As pessoas buscarão positivamente em outros indivíduos a mistificação que torna possível usá-los como objetos de transferência — objetos cujo poder aplaca a ansiedade contínua da condição humana.

Os indivíduos anseiam pelos sentimentos de proteção mágica que desfrutavam quando eram amados e protegidos por seus pais. Entregar-se em lealdade e obediência ao líder ou ao grupo satisfaz anseios eróticos inconscientes e profundos, presentes em algum grau em todas as pessoas. A essência da transferência é que ela serve como um mecanismo para domesticar o terror da condição humana. Quanto menor a força do ego de uma pessoa, mais fortes serão seus relacionamentos de transferência. Ou seja, quanto mais defesas contra a ansiedade da morte uma pessoa necessita, mais o seu mundo será povoado por figuras parentais protetoras e ajudantes mágicos.

A realidade nos revela o fato de que, como indivíduos, somos animais finitos, mortais e fracos. Dada a escolha entre aceitar esta realidade ou entregar-se a ilusões de grandeza e importância que o líder confere aos seguidores, a massa dos seres humanos escolherá a ilusão em vez da realidade, a mentira em vez da verdade, a ficção em vez do fato.

A transferência descreve a natureza do vínculo entre líder e seguidor, entre o comportamento individual e o grupal. É um vínculo enraizado na transferência regressiva da submissão individual ao "poder", na necessidade individual de sentir reverência e proteção diante dos ícones simbólicos de poder, através dos quais a pessoa pode negar e evitar o reconhecimento da finitude. As pessoas não se veem simplesmente "mergulhadas" passivamente por tais sentimentos; elas buscam ativa e quase conscientemente esses ícones simbólicos de poder aos quais possam se submeter — mesmo quando, e talvez especialmente quando, isso é feito sob o disfarce ideológico de buscar independência, individuação, autorrealização e autonomia.

A transferência é motivada pelo medo da morte, mas também pelo medo da vida, da individuação, de sustentar-se por suas próprias forças. Estes são os dois motivos ontológicos: o medo da vida e o medo da morte. Por um lado, a pessoa é impelida por um desejo poderoso de se identificar com o processo cósmico, de fundir-se com o resto da natureza. Por outro lado, a pessoa deseja ser única, destacar-se como algo diferente e à parte.

Este eixo ontológico (medo da vida/morte) toma forma específica na vida de cada um através de um eixo existencial. Enquanto as energias desses medos são universais, as formas particulares de lidar com eles variam existencialmente conforme os canais disponíveis em cada cultura específica.

Há também um elemento de desejo por um "heroísmo superior" na dinâmica da transferência. A transferência não é apenas um processo negativo; é um processo necessário. A qualidade da vida de alguém — se o processo de transferência será enobrecedor e edificante ou degradante e mundano — depende amplamente das escolhas de objetos de transferência que se faz.

A consciência de Deus pode ser uma transferência regressiva, mas também pode abrir o "eu simbólico" para possibilidades criativas. As questões vitais tornam-se, então, aquelas sobre a qualidade na transferência:


___________________________________________

Ernest Becker (1924-1974): Denial of Death 

extract from : Abstracts of the complete writings of Ernest Becker.  Daniel Liechty · 2017 

Chapter Seven, 'The Spell Cast by Persons - The Nexus of Unfreedom, pp. 127-158. 


There is an undeniable slavishness built into the human soul. Because human beings must gain their power for living from outside themselves, they both worship and fear power and willingly give their loyalty to those who hold it. People will positively seek in other people the mystification which makes it possible to use others as transference objects, objects whose power allays ongoing  * anxiety of the human condition. People long for the feelings of magical protection they enjoyed when they were loved and protected by their parents. Giving oneself over in loyalty and obedience to the leader or to the group satisfies unconscious, deep-seated erotic longings which are present to one degree or another in all people. The essence of transference is that it is a mechanism for taming the terror of the human condition. The less ego strength a person has, the stronger will be his or her transference relationships. That is, the more defenses against death anxiety a person needs, the more that person's world will be peopled with parental-figure protectors and magical helpers.** Reality reveals to us the fact that as individual people, we are finite, mortal, weak animals. Given the choice between accepting this reality or giving oneself over to illusions of greatness and importance which the leader imparts to followers, the mass of human beings will choose illusion over reality, lies over truth, fiction over fact. Transference describes the nature of the bond between leader and follower, between individual and group behavior. It is a bond rooted in the regressive transference of individual submission to 'power,' in the individual need to feel awe and protection from the symbolic icons of power by which the person can deny and avoid recognition of finitude. People do not simply find themselves passively 'engulfed' by such feelings toward symbolic icons of power. People actively and all-but-consciously seek such symbolic icons of powers toward which they might submit themselves,*** even when, perhaps even especially when, this is done under the ideological cover of seeking independence, individuation, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, and autonomy. Transference is motivated by fear of death, but also by fear of life, of individuation, of standing on one's own powers. These are the twin ontological motives: fear of life and fear of death. On the one hand the person is impelled by a powerful desire to identify with the cosmic process, to merge with the rest of nature. On the other hand, a person wants to be unique, to stand out as something different and apart. The ontological axis, the fear of life and the fear of death, Becker viewed as basic to human nature and would apply in some measure to all human beings. This is played out in any specific life by a corresponding existential axis.**** The Reality reveals to us the fact that as individual people, we are finite, mortal, weak animals. Given the choice between accepting this reality or giving oneself over to illusions of greatness and importance which the leader imparts to followers, the mass of human beings will choose illusion over reality, lies over truth, fiction over fact. Transference describes the nature of the bond between leader and follower, between individual and group behavior. It is a bond rooted in the regressive transference of individual submission to 'power,' in the individual need to feel awe and protection from the symbolic icons of power by which the person can deny and avoid recognition of finitude. People do not simply find themselves passively 'engulfed' by such feelings toward symbolic icons of power. People actively and all-but-consciously seek such symbolic icons of powers toward which they might submit themselves, even****when, perhaps even especially when, this is done under the ideological cover of seeking independence, individuation, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, and autonomy. Transference is motivated by fear of death, but also by fear of life, of individuation, of standing on one's own powers. These are the twin ontological motives: fear of life and fear of death. On the one hand the person is impelled by a powerful desire to identify with the cosmic process, to merge with the rest of nature. On the other hand, a person wants to be unique, to stand out as something different and apart. The ontological axis, the fear of life and the fear of death, Becker viewed as basic to human nature and would apply in some measure to all human beings. This is played out in any specific life by a corresponding existential axis. The  *V Reality reveals to us the fact that as individual people, we are finite, mortal, weak animals. Given the choice between accepting this reality or giving oneself over to illusions of greatness and importance which the leader imparts to followers, the mass of human beings will choose illusion over reality, lies over truth, fiction over fact. Transference describes the nature of the bond between leader and follower, between individual and group behavior. It is a bond rooted in the regressive transference of individual submission to 'power,' in the individual need to feel awe and protection from the symbolic icons of power by which the person can deny and avoid recognition of finitude. People do not simply find themselves passively 'engulfed' by such feelings toward symbolic icons of power. People actively and all-but-consciously seek such symbolic icons of powers toward which they might submit themselves, even *6 

when, perhaps even especially when, this is done under the ideological cover of seeking independence, individuation, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, and autonomy. Transference is motivated by fear of death, but also by fear of life, of individuation, of standing on one's own powers. These are the twin ontological motives: fear of life and fear of death. On the one hand the person is impelled by a powerful desire to identify with the cosmic process, to merge with the rest of nature. On the other hand, a person wants to be unique, to stand out as something different and apart. The ontological axis, the fear of life and the fear of death, Becker viewed as basic to human nature and would apply in some measure to all human beings. This is played out in any specific life by a corresponding existential axis. The ontological axis of fear of life and fear of death takes specific shape in the form of an existential axis. The existential axis represents culturally specific manifestations of the ontological dynamics. That is, while the energies of the fear of life and fear of death are universal, the particular ways of dealing with these fears will vary existentially according to the particular avenues for channeling these energies within a specific culture. There is also an element of an urge to higher heroism in the transference dynamic. Transference is not simply a negative process; it is a necessary process. The quality of one's life, whether the transference process will be ennobling and uplifting or demeaning and mundane, depends largely on the choices of transference objects one makes. *** when, perhaps even especially when, this is done under the ideological cover of seeking independence, individuation, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, and autonomy. Transference is motivated by fear of death, but also by fear of life, of individuation, of standing on one's own powers. These are the twin ontological motives: fear of life and fear of death. On the one hand the person is impelled by a powerful desire to identify with the cosmic process, to merge with the rest of nature. On the other hand, a person wants to be unique, to stand out as something different and apart. The ontological axis, the fear of life and the fear of death, Becker viewed as basic to human nature and would apply in some measure to all human beings. This is played out in any specific life by a corresponding existential axis. The ontological axis of fear of life and fear of death takes specific shape in the form of an existential axis. The existential axis represents culturally specific manifestations of the ontological dynamics. That is, while the energies of the fear of life and fear of death are universal, the particular ways of dealing with these fears will vary existentially according to the particular avenues for channeling these energies within a specific culture. There is also an element of an urge to higher heroism in the transference dynamic. Transference is not simply a negative process; it is a necessary process. The quality of one's life, whether the transference process will be ennobling and uplifting or demeaning and mundane, depends largely on the choices of transference objects one makes.  God-consciousness may be regressive transference. But it may also open the symbolic self up to creative possibility. The vital questions become those of quality in transference. What is creative projection? What is life-enhancing illusion?


Gemini
---

may explain this becker phrase "The vital questions become those of quality in transference. What is creative projection? What is life-enhancing illusion? 


his thought-provoking quote comes from Ernest Becker, likely from his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, The Denial of Death (1973).

To understand why Becker shifts the focus to "quality in transference" and "life-enhancing illusions," we first have to look at his core argument: humans are the only animals aware that they are going to die. This creates a paralyzing terror that we manage by creating "hero systems" or "immortality projects."


1. Quality in Transference

In psychology, transference usually refers to a patient redirecting feelings about a significant person (like a parent) onto their therapist. Becker expands this: he argues that we all "transfer" our need for cosmic meaning and security onto something else—a leader, a romantic partner, a religion, or a career.

Since we cannot stand alone in the face of death, we must attach ourselves to something "bigger." Becker suggests that instead of trying to "cure" transference (which he thinks is impossible), we should look at its quality:

2. Creative Projection

Becker argues that we "project" our inner need for value onto the world. If we don't have a creative outlet, we might project our fears onto "enemies" or "others."

3. Life-Enhancing Illusion

This is perhaps Becker's most radical idea. He suggests that human reality is built on "vital lies." Because the raw truth (that we are "breathing pieces of meat" destined to decay) is too much to bear, we need illusions to function.

The question for Becker isn't "Is this true?" but "Does this illusion serve life?"