Meaning beyond heroic illusions? Transcendence in everyday life

Ernest Becker's theory of human evil is as devastating as it is incisive since he identifies the uniquely human capacity for transcendence as the source of evil. Anticipating our own death, we turn to elaborately constructed "heroic illusions" that give us meaning and the promise of immortality while treating those with different ideologies as opponents. This article summarizes Pecker's interpretation of evil and discusses how transcendence is understood by contemporary thinkers such as Karl Rahner. It concludes by examining "breakthroughs" in personal relationships as transcendent experiences that are deeply meaningful but do not involve the construction of others as enemies.