The Ernest Becker Foundation

When Neil Elgee first contacted me in the mid-90s, the Becker Foundation was an improbable halo around the moon. When I met the man, I half-feared he would turn out to be a mild eccentric with the usual pipedream of rescuing humanity. No such thing. I could flatter him by calling him generous, principled, modest, canny, droll, tenacious as a sheepdog, and blessed with a wife and family to match. But why embarrass him? This is the 100^th EBF newsletter - amazing! - and it's also an occasion to observe that the halo around the moon has become an organization with backbone and the range of ambitions itemized in the accompanying stories.

Where are we now?

The early focus on Becker's core insights about death-anxiety and denial has exploded into a sometimes bewildering array of applications, from gang violence and climate change to educational curriculum and hospice work. It's easier to generalize about the anxious, childlike, high-strung human creature than to study the particular strategies individuals and their cultures use to negotiate an overwhelming world.