ESCAPE FROM EVIL

Rating:
Summary: Becker's Brave Pessimism
Review: Decades ago I read a book by Joseph Chilton Pierce titled, 'The Crack in the Cosmic Egg'. That book used an egg inside an eggshell as a metaphor for the state of the average human being living inside his or her eggshell world of ideas, traditions, beliefs, and thoughts. It went on to discuss how that 'eggshell' of ideas, traditions, beliefs, and thoughts can be false or misleading, and talked about the manner in which one can escape that shell in the interest of building an 'eggshell' unique to the individual and not necessarily inherited or imposed. Of course, to not remain open to change and to cease to challenge one's 'shell' is to run the risk of simply reconstructing another that is equally misleading.

No two books have affected my beliefs and thoughts any more than have Becker's 'Escape from Evil' and 'The Denial of Death'. I read the latter in college and have since read it again on several occasions. I read 'Escape from Evil' nearly as a sequel to 'Denial of Death' and recommend it as a companion work.

I would in retrospect probably read 'Escape from Evil' before 'Denial of Death.' But to say that is of course quantum mechanics. I've already performed the experiment the results of which I've measured but whose effects have now altered my 'quantum state' of thinking. My opinion might have been the reverse had I read 'Escape...' first. C'est la vie.

So read them as you will, but please, do read them. The language is somewhat dated, his statements are at times prone to the same errors of logic that most of us are prone to and he focuses on only those authors and works that support his thesis, but it is very likely 'Escape from Evil' will crack the shell of your beliefs about your world as well as our shared world and will change the way you think, perhaps, even hopefully, for the remainder of your life.

Rating:
Summary: "Cracking the Cosmic Egg"
Review: Decades ago I read a book by Joseph Chilton Pierce titled, 'The Crack in the Cosmic Egg'. That book used an egg inside an eggshell as a metaphor for the state of the average human being living inside his or her eggshell world of ideas, traditions, beliefs, and thoughts. It went on to discuss how that 'eggshell' of ideas, traditions, beliefs, and thoughts can be false or misleading, and talked about the manner in which one can escape that shell in the interest of building an 'eggshell' unique to the individual and not necessarily inherited or imposed. Of course, to not remain open to change and to cease to challenge one's 'shell' is to run the risk of simply reconstructing another that is equally misleading.

No two books have affected my beliefs and thoughts any more than have Becker's 'Escape from Evil' and 'The Denial of Death'. I read the latter in college and have since read it again on several occasions. I read 'Escape from Evil' nearly as a sequel to 'Denial of Death' and recommend it as a companion work.

I would in retrospect probably read 'Escape from Evil' before 'Denial of Death.' But to say that is of course quantum mechanics. I've already performed the experiment the results of which I've measured but whose effects have now altered my 'quantum state' of thinking. My opinion might have been the reverse had I read 'Escape...' first. C'est la vie.

So read them as you will, but please, do read them. The language is somewhat dated, his statements are at times prone to the same errors of logic that most of us are prone to and he focuses on only those authors and works that support his thesis, but it is very likely 'Escape from Evil' will crack the shell of your beliefs about your world as well as our shared world and will change the way you think, perhaps, even hopefully, for the remainder of your life.

Rating:
Summary: Becker's Brave Pessimism
Review: I wish Ernest Becker were still around, telling us what he thinks of the world. He'd certainly be able to shed some light on what's going on now. ESCAPE FROM EVIL, while not as rigorous as his earlier work (it was published after his death, against his wishes) transposes the more individual explorations of death in DENIAL OF DEATH to larger society. What he finds is not necessarily encouraging, but it is always enlightening, invigorating, and truthful. He works hard to look at hard realities and, further, though he is not optimistic, he is interested in a rigorous hope, a hope without illusion. Becker helps you lose your illusions with aplomb.

Rating:
Summary: Explaining the Dark Time
Review: In our dark time, where ethno-nationalism and militant fundamentalism have lead to hatred and genocide, we are all what Robert J. Lifton calls "survivors (p. 235, Lifton, R. J. "The Future of Immortality", Basic Books, Inc., Publisher, New York, NY, 1987.)." As "survivors" we cannot help but search for an explanation of the violence and destruction that have plagued our century. In his book "Escape from Evil", Ernest Becker proposes a very convincing, and often harrowing, explanation of this destruction. He writes,

"Since men must now hold for dear life onto the self-transcending meanings of the society in which they live, onto the immortality symbols which guarentee them indefinite duration of some kind, a new kind of instability and anxiety are created. And this anxiety is precisely what spills over into the affairs of men. In seeking to avoid evil, man is responsible for bringing more evil into the world than organisms could ever do merely by excercising their digestive tracts. It is man's ingenuity, rather than his animal nature, that has given his fellow creatures such a bitter earthly fate (pg. 5, Becker)."

From this point, Becker attempts to define how man's ingenuity, hopes, and desires have lead to an incredible amount of trouble in the world. Becker is at once cultural analysist, religious scholar, and social psychologist. "Escape from Evil" is an amazing inquiry, exploring the frightening needs of diverse social groups, looking into the deep inner fears of man, explaining Hitler and the origin of guilt, delving into the meaning of culture and the origins of inequality. These are not small subjects and they will challenge the ideas of any reader.

His writing is precise and he integrates important thinkers into his work with the greatest of ease. Ernest Becker is a must read, and "Escape from Evil" is a good place to start. It will deconstruct the mind and then rebuild it again, leaving the reader feeling both enlightened and confused.

Rating:
Summary: Explaining the Dark Time
Review: In our dark time, where ethno-nationalism and militant fundamentalism have lead to hatred and genocide, we are all what Robert J. Lifton calls "survivors (p. 235, Lifton, R. J. "The Future of Immortality", Basic Books, Inc., Publisher, New York, NY, 1987.)." As "survivors" we cannot help but search for an explanation of the violence and destruction that have plagued our century. In his book "Escape from Evil", Ernest Becker proposes a very convincing, and often harrowing, explanation of this destruction. He writes,

"Since men must now hold for dear life onto the self-transcending meanings of the society in which they live, onto the immortality symbols which guarentee them indefinite duration of some kind, a new kind of instability and anxiety are created. And this anxiety is precisely what spills over into the affairs of men. In seeking to avoid evil, man is responsible for bringing more evil into the world than organisms could ever do merely by excercising their digestive tracts. It is man's ingenuity, rather than his animal nature, that has given his fellow creatures such a bitter earthly fate (pg. 5, Becker)."

From this point, Becker attempts to define how man's ingenuity, hopes, and desires have lead to an incredible amount of trouble in the world. Becker is at once cultural analysist, religious scholar, and social psychologist. "Escape from Evil" is an amazing inquiry, exploring the frightening needs of diverse social groups, looking into the deep inner fears of man, explaining Hitler and the origin of guilt, delving into the meaning of culture and the origins of inequality. These are not small subjects and they will challenge the ideas of any reader.

His writing is precise and he integrates important thinkers into his work with the greatest of ease. Ernest Becker is a must read, and "Escape from Evil" is a good place to start. It will deconstruct the mind and then rebuild it again, leaving the reader feeling both enlightened and confused.