Theresa MacPhail

So I start off the class with the ultimate failure, which is death. I really think I'm an intellectual granddaughter of Ernest Becker, who famously wrote The Denial of Death. He was an anthropologist as well, and his take was that society everywhere is a living myth of the significance of human life.

So I start off the class with the ultimate failure, which is death. I really think I'm an intellectual granddaughter of Ernest Becker, who famously wrote The Denial of Death. He was an anthropologist as well, and his take was that society everywhere is a living myth of the significance of human life.

So I start off the class with the ultimate failure, which is death. I really think I'm an intellectual granddaughter of Ernest Becker, who famously wrote The Denial of Death. He was an anthropologist as well, and his take was that society everywhere is a living myth of the significance of human life.

that we defiantly create meaning where none exists because we do not want to deal with the terror that the ultimate mistake is one that's going to get us killed. I start off the class saying, listen, life is terrifying because death is terrifying. And I think evolutionarily, mistakes meant catastrophe.

that we defiantly create meaning where none exists because we do not want to deal with the terror that the ultimate mistake is one that's going to get us killed. I start off the class saying, listen, life is terrifying because death is terrifying. And I think evolutionarily, mistakes meant catastrophe.

that we defiantly create meaning where none exists because we do not want to deal with the terror that the ultimate mistake is one that's going to get us killed. I start off the class saying, listen, life is terrifying because death is terrifying. And I think evolutionarily, mistakes meant catastrophe.

And that's probably why we don't like them, because if you make a wrong move in the savanna when you're hunting, you're dead.

And that's probably why we don't like them, because if you make a wrong move in the savanna when you're hunting, you're dead.

And that's probably why we don't like them, because if you make a wrong move in the savanna when you're hunting, you're dead.

Yes. But if you look at biology, death is your system's all failing. See what I'm saying? But that's the perfect example to try to get them to accept that failure is necessary. Because the example of something that doesn't die is cancer. And that's not what we want.

Yes. But if you look at biology, death is your system's all failing. See what I'm saying? But that's the perfect example to try to get them to accept that failure is necessary. Because the example of something that doesn't die is cancer. And that's not what we want.

Yes. But if you look at biology, death is your system's all failing. See what I'm saying? But that's the perfect example to try to get them to accept that failure is necessary. Because the example of something that doesn't die is cancer. And that's not what we want.

And so there's that tension that, yes, death is, if you think about it from that perspective, it's all your system shutting down one by one in a cascade.

And so there's that tension that, yes, death is, if you think about it from that perspective, it's all your system shutting down one by one in a cascade.

And so there's that tension that, yes, death is, if you think about it from that perspective, it's all your system shutting down one by one in a cascade.

And you can see that as the ultimate failure, but then I try to get them to embrace that because, and again, I'm just Becker's granddaughter, because his argument was if we distract ourselves and we try to push down our fears of failing, ultimately that's about our fear of dying, that ironically trying to push all of that down and not talking openly about it creates more problems.

And you can see that as the ultimate failure, but then I try to get them to embrace that because, and again, I'm just Becker's granddaughter, because his argument was if we distract ourselves and we try to push down our fears of failing, ultimately that's about our fear of dying, that ironically trying to push all of that down and not talking openly about it creates more problems.

And you can see that as the ultimate failure, but then I try to get them to embrace that because, and again, I'm just Becker's granddaughter, because his argument was if we distract ourselves and we try to push down our fears of failing, ultimately that's about our fear of dying, that ironically trying to push all of that down and not talking openly about it creates more problems.

So that's my take is that, yeah, you have to embrace failure because you can't have a successful life without it. I basically tell them at the start of my classes that I need you to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And I need you to be comfortable with uncertainty. And I really think embracing the idea that you're going to fail is the antidote to that anxiety.

So that's my take is that, yeah, you have to embrace failure because you can't have a successful life without it. I basically tell them at the start of my classes that I need you to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And I need you to be comfortable with uncertainty. And I really think embracing the idea that you're going to fail is the antidote to that anxiety.