Ernest Becker — Eggs Are Not Hatched in Vain

In his interview with Ernest Becker on his deathbed,

Sam Keen asked him how he thought about himself as he was dying.

Becker said this: “Well, I suppose the most immediate thing I feel

is relieved of the burden of responsibility for my own life,

putting it back where it belongs,

to whoever, whatever hatched me.

I think this is the most immediate thing I feel,

a great sense of relief and trust

that eggs are not hatched in vain.”

All the unavoidable anxiety we have felt throughout life

about being responsible or making things happen

or caring for the ones we love is let go —

given over to God

or whomever we regard as the source of being.

We have our life as a gift.

We are able to let go of that gift —

put our life back where it came from —

if we trust that our life has not been in vain —

that it had meaning.

Karen Speerstra, Herbert Anderson

The Divine Art of Dying: How to Live Well While Dying