The Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl believed that the search for meaning in life is the main difference between humans and animals. How does the fear of death affect the acquisition of meaning? A study conducted at North Dakota State University (USA) was devoted to this topic. The students were asked to take tests, the results of which characterized their level of self-esteem (a criterion that, within the framework of the Theory of Fear of Death Management, is understood as a person’s satisfaction with their position in society). Next, participants were asked to think about death by imagining themselves in the place of victims of terrorist attacks, and then evaluate two written works: the content of one of them corresponded to people’s beliefs, and the second contradicted their attitudes. The higher the students’ self-esteem, the more aggressively they defended their values and the less anxious they felt about death. Accordingly, students with low self-esteem experienced greater anxiety when reminded of the inevitable end. At the same time, these participants were much less likely to “cling” to their beliefs compared to those who were satisfied with their place in life: they viewed the reminder of death as an incentive to search for new meanings of existence. The study showed that, on the one hand, people with high self-esteem experience less fear of death than those who do not feel like an important part of a social group. On the other hand, it is precisely the unwillingness to face existential anxiety that makes socially successful people aggressively defend their values and makes them closed to understanding other points of view, intolerant of other people’s beliefs. At the same time, scientists note that the search for meaning in life by people with low self-esteem does not always help to find this meaning, which does not contribute to the attainment of inner well-being. At the same time, researchers believe that the process of finding meaning in life itself can play the same protective role against the fear of death as the firm beliefs of people with high self-esteem.

Within the framework of the theory of socio-emotional selectivity (socio-emotional selectivity), people’s motives are divided into two groups: one is associated with the acquisition of knowledge, the second – with the experience of emotions. The less a person realizes the finiteness of life, the more often he prioritizes the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, understanding that the end is near makes you focus on experiencing emotions. For example, a young couple at the beginning of a relationship is ready to spend time clarifying their relationship in order to better understand in the future what to expect from their partner (prioritizing knowledge over pleasure). While older people, from the very beginning of a relationship, prefer to accept each other for who they are and enjoy communication right now. Most young people are interested in new contacts, it is more important for them to gain knowledge about the world through communication with different people, while the elderly try to interact with those they know well, they choose communication that gives them a lot of positive emotions. In addition, long-term contacts allow older people to feel needed, despite their weakness. Thus, when a person is approaching the inevitable end, he begins to put emotions, not knowledge, in the center of his life. A group of scientists from the University of California and Stanford University analyzed a number of studies on knowledge preferences or emotions in both older and younger people suffering from an incurable disease. The experiment involved three groups of men (average age 38 years), one of which included healthy people, the second – HIV carriers, but without symptoms, and the third – men with active symptoms of AIDS. It was the participants from the third group who gave maximum preference to the “old”, emotionally intense relationships over the opportunity to meet new interesting people. Another study showed that memorization of emotional information improves with age. A group of participants, which included people between the ages of 23 and 80, read two pages of a novel, which contained both “dry” and emotionally intense information. After a while, the participants were asked to recall what they had read: it turned out that the older the person was, the more emotional moments they remembered. Also, “limited time” increases the importance of positive aspects of life: the feeling that “this may be the last time” changes the reaction to events and makes you give up negativity and prefer to enjoy every moment. When it comes to finishing something, for example, the last days of college, the feeling that this is the “last lecture”, “last meeting”, etc., makes people strive for more positive experiences. In old age, the feeling of “the last days” becomes omnipresent, which affects attitudes towards life. Experts from the American Psychological Association conducted a study involving 156 couples of different ages – scientists assessed the level of conflict in unions. It turned out that the older people were in couples, the less aggression there was in their relationship, the stronger the desire to “smooth out” conflicts and show affection. The choice of more “emotional” contacts among older people is not so much related to life experience as to the feeling of “finiteness of being.” An experiment was conducted: young and elderly people were asked with whom they would like to spend time – with a well-known person, with a little-known person who aroused sympathy, or with the author of their favorite book. The participants were offered two options: in the first, the meeting was suggested to be “included” in the usual schedule of life, and in the second, it was supposed to take place shortly before the departure of the interviewee for a long time. In both cases, older people preferred meeting with close friends, while younger people preferred new acquaintances in the first case, and meeting with friends in the second. Then the participants were asked to imagine that a doctor had called them and told them about the discovery of a method that could guarantee a 20-year increase in life. The behavior of the young people did not change, while the older participants preferred new acquaintances. Thus, the study showed that people’s preferences are influenced not so much by age itself as by the feeling that “there is little time left.”

In a study conducted by specialists from the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey), scientists have identified the existence of a link between sleep disorders and a deterioration in the ability to manage their emotions. Both external and internal factors play a role in reducing the amount of sleep, one of which is procrastination before bedtime. Many people delay the moment of falling asleep in the absence of any convincing reasons to postpone sleep. What are the reasons for this delay? Thus, it was found that people with a genetic predisposition to falling asleep later (“owls”) are more prone to procrastination before bedtime. Also, according to experts, postponing sleep time may be associated with routine activities that need to be performed in the evening – brushing teeth, tidying up, preparing things for tomorrow. At the same time, the reasons may be much deeper and rooted in the fear of death. Thus, in many cultures, even at the linguistic level, there is a connection between sleep and death. For example, in wishing a “restful sleep” and telling a dead person to “rest in peace.” In ancient Greek mythology, Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death, were siblings. In a dream, we are deprived of the ability to realize, so these hours are “deleted” from our lives, bringing us closer to death. Finally, we can subconsciously connect the end of the day, ending with sleep, and the end of life, ending with death. Thus, the higher a person’s anxiety associated with the fear of death, the more likely they are to develop procrastination before bedtime. The aim of the study was to identify a link between increased anxiety associated with the fear of death and a tendency to procrastinate before bedtime. 229 people participated in the study. The degree of procrastination was assessed on a special scale containing statements such as “I always go to bed later than planned.” In addition, sleep quality assessment methods and special questionnaires were used to determine the presence and degree of anxiety associated with the fear of death. A clear relationship has been established between increased anxiety caused by existential fear and a tendency to evening procrastination. It also turned out that men predominate in the group of “sleep-postponers”. Surveys have shown that representatives of the stronger sex consider procrastination before falling asleep as a kind of “risky behavior.” Men felt that they were willing to take risks and postpone sleep, despite the likelihood of health problems, in order to “waste less time” and “prolong life.”

Retirement is a moment when many people have a growing fear of death. The meaning of life, which many previously found in work and usefulness to society, is being lost. Therefore, a person is faced with the need to search for new meanings. Scientists from the University of Alberta (Canada) analyzed over 50 studies on the fear of death in the elderly. In one study conducted in Finland, experts sought to identify the relationship between the fear of death and having a purpose in life. Over 800 pensioners between the ages of 75 and 90 became participants. Among the goals that the elderly set for themselves were to improve their health, athletic performance, the opportunity to communicate with friends, continue to attend events, express themselves in creativity, take care of relatives, take care of the house and garden, pets, etc. The study showed that having a goal in life not only helps to have better health, be more physically active compared to those who do not have goals, but also promotes psychological well-being, reduces existential anxiety and looks at life with optimism. In all the works analyzed by Canadian researchers, there is a clear trend: the horror of non-existence decreases with goals in life combined with satisfaction with the status quo. And, accordingly, it increases among people who live with the feeling that everything has already been achieved and “there is no need to expect good things from life anymore.” Increased fear of death is often associated with the emergence of health problems, both physical and mental, with the loss of people close in age. Scientists have also found that the fear of death increases as much as possible by the age of 65-75, and after 80 years it gradually “wanes”, which can be explained by the gradual acceptance of the fact of one’s mortality.

Why are some works of art admired by most people, while others are rejected and even disgusted? Scientists believe that only those works that contribute to maintaining a meaningful view of reality, a necessary component of high self–esteem that protects against fear of death, are perceived in a positive way. The researchers conducted a series of experiments to determine how awareness of the fear of death affects the perception of contemporary art. At each stage, the participants were divided into two groups, one of which was forced to reflect on death. At the first stage, it was proposed to evaluate two paintings painted in an abstract style on a nine-point scale. In the control group, the average score was about 5.8 points, while in the “death–scared” group it was only 3.9 points. In the second stage, in addition to the works of modern art, other paintings were added: landscapes, paintings with scenes from the Bible and images of non-Christian saints (Indian mythology, Buddhism). All the works were also offered to be evaluated on a nine-point scale. The participants from both groups put the works of modern art in last place among other paintings. However, the group reflecting on death scored fewer points for abstract painting than the control group. There were no differences in the perception of other works: participants in both groups reacted positively to “meaningful” works of art. At the third stage of the study, participants were asked to rate “abstract” paintings, but some of them had a name and some remained nameless. The participants in both groups rated the paintings with a name higher, the only difference was that people who had previously thought about death rated the nameless paintings lower than the representatives of the control group. At the fourth stage, the participants were asked to “learn” their own experiences in the work of art. People imagined themselves in an unfamiliar city, where they spoke an incomprehensible language, and compared the feeling of chaos and meaninglessness that arose with the “chaos” in the picture. For comparison, an abstract composition by another artist was presented, which was more orderly than the first work, but the participants were not asked to “recognize themselves in it.” As a result, both groups rated the more “chaotic” painting higher than the alternative work. According to experts, the first two stages of the study showed that the rejection of works of modern art, especially after thinking about death, is primarily due to its meaninglessness, which prevents consciousness from “organizing the world” and building psychological defenses against death, while recognizable symbols in other paintings help maintain a “sense of rightness” of the world.. However, if you help people interpret a work in one way or another by giving it a name, or encourage them to “recognize themselves in it,” then loyalty to contemporary art increases. Experts believe that structuring the aesthetic experience gained through contact with contemporary art can reduce the sense of threat of meaninglessness, which increases the fear of death.

The fear of death “rules the ball” in our lives: the above studies reveal only a small part of the existential iceberg. However, even this information helps to lift the veil over the processes lurking in our psyche. According to psychologists and philosophers, awareness of the fear of death and its impact on our lives is an important part of the process of personality formation. No matter how much we refuse to face the truth about our mortality, we cannot avoid a clash with the truth. And if we are not ready for a meeting, this truth can break us, cause deep depression and serious mental disorders. As the philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote in his work “Time and Being”: “… the primordial horror can awaken in our being at any moment. To do this, you don’t need to be woken up by some extravagant event. The depth of his action is matched by the pettiness of the possible reasons for it. He is constantly ready to break into us…”. At the same time, a conscious attitude towards death is necessary for a full and fulfilling life. The famous Buddhist teacher and philosopher Sogyal Rinpoche spoke about the awareness of one’s own mortality as an indispensable condition for spiritual and personal growth.: “When we finally realize that we ourselves and all living beings are mortal, we begin to experience a burning, almost unbearable sense of the fragility and value of every moment and every being, and from this feeling deep, pure, boundless compassion for all things can grow.” The design uses the painting “Death of Cleopatra” by Jean-Baptiste Regnault