Top 3 Quotes & Sayings by Sheldon Solomon

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American professor Sheldon Solomon.
Last updated on November 21, 2024.
Sheldon Solomon

Sheldon Solomon is an American social psychologist at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. He earned his B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College and his doctoral degree from the University of Kansas. He is best known for developing terror management theory, along with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski, which is concerned with how humans deal with their own sense of mortality. The three co-authored the book The Worm at the Core: On the role of Death in Life in 2015.

Come to terms with death. Thereafter anything is possible. — © Sheldon Solomon
Come to terms with death. Thereafter anything is possible.
If we were immortal, then life would be meaningless, because nothing would be of consequence. Certainly one way of taking the edge off the prospect of our inevitable demise is to ponder how much more horrendous it would be if we persisted in perpetuity. And yet, if you told me I had X number of days left to live, I would lobby for X plus one.
Culture gives us each a sense that life has meaning and that we have value - by offering us assurances of immortality. Either literally, through the heavens, the soul's afterlives or reincarnation, or by the prospect that some vestige of ourselves will persist over time - from having kids, amassing great fortunes or producing great works of art or science. Yet no culturally constructed symbolic belief system is ever powerful enough to completely eradicate the anxiety that is engendered by the awareness of death.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!