The chapter is titled "The Problem We Don't Admit." It asks a simple but unsettling question: What happened when human beings first realized they were going to die?
The chapter explores mortality awareness as the defining rupture in human consciousness and introduces the central ideas that the rest of the book builds upon. It draws from the work of Ernest Becker, Ajit Varki, and Danny Brower and Terror Management Theory, while asking what this means for everyday life, creativity, and our search for meaning.
If you've been following this project, I hope you'll enjoy the reading.