Terror Management, Consciousness, and Death: Exploring Secular Spiritual Perspectives as Alternatives to Orthodox Religious Doctrine

Abstract

Terror Management Theory (TMT) is based mainly on the work of existentialist writers – notably that of Ernest Becker’s book The Denial of Death – which posits the notion that much of human behaviour is driven by the need to cope with the knowledge of our own mortality. The construction of coping strategies – typically religious and ideological beliefs which come to be held in ways which isolate them from rational criticism – serves the purpose of both explaining the impermanence of human existence and supplying reasons for living, often with some form of life after death perspective. It will be suggested that such constructions are less rational and coherent than recent neo-idealist theories of consciousness, especially those which are linked with secular spirituality by scientists and philosophers such as Bernardo Kastrup, Donald Hoffman and Rupert Spira. Conceptions of consciousness advanced by such thinkers will be explored before examining the implications of such notions for perspectives on death and its possible aftermath.