I have been reading "Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker. He has an
interesting spin on Freud, focusing on death as the core dilemma
rather than sexuality, which stays as a sort of mediating anxiety
between the individual and the grave.
I find the general idea quite convincing and Becker a powerful
writer although there is an awful lot of Freudian
psycho-hydraulics (as Alan Watts used to call them) in the book.
The idea is that life is intolerable due to death anxiety and this
makes people lie to themselves and get into "little heroics"
approved by culture, like careers and progeny and such. The people
who are unable to lie to themselves (to the same degree) are the
ones deemed insane. They invent elaborate ways of deflecting the
truth, but eventually cannot.
The only ones able to rise above the situation are the insanes
with talents, in other word artists. Their talent grants them
the ability to get into real heroics. They make their lives a
pursuit for a personal vision of the world that enables them
to give an honest accounting of their vision while being
culturally approved (at least potentially and liminally).
I don't necessarily recommend the book due to it's tedious
hydraulics, but I heard a nice podcast about it and related
matters. Lex Fridman with Sheldon Solomon, check it out if you
are interested.
As a side note, Lex's podcast is really quite good. It feels to
me that he has found his voice during the past year.
