Fear of death explored

• Published date: 10 March 2022
• Publication title: Taupo Weekender

By Rachel E Menzies and Ross G Menzies, Allen & Unwin, $39.99

Now that’s a cheerful subject — we already know from childhood that we’re all headed towards death.

And that is what has shaped how our society has developed. Dr Rachel Menzies and Professor Ross Menzies are psychologists who have focused their work on death anxiety and human response to death all over the world and throughout history.

They say the fear of death drives most of our species’ endeavours over millennia. It drives us to create enduring art, architecture and literature — a legacy once we’re gone. It has also driven us to overpopulate, and driven global warming as we consume voraciously.

Religion has been a necessity for many to tolerate the fact of their mortality — a...