The Jonas Syndrome: Fear of Living up to Potential

What I learned from The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

Join the Nat’s Notes Newsletter to get my top highlights from the book.

Get Two Months Free of Readwise

Readwise is my favorite reading tool. I use it to automatically extract my highlights from physical books, and I use their Reader to read and highlight everything I find online.

Then they automatically organize all of my notes and send them directly to my note-taking tool, so I can immediately look up anything I loved in past books I read.

It’s a total game changer for getting the most out of every book you read, and if you love books, you need to be using it.

(00:00) Why Do You Do What You Do? (02:07) How Do You Feel Heroic? (11:22) The Fear of Death (15:07) Evolution and Anxiety (17:34) Why Aren’t We More Courageous? (21:36) Struggle as a False Sense of Control (24:10) Automatic Cultural Man (NPCs) (28:03) The Foundation of Self Belief (31:10) Cosmic Heroism (33:36) Looking for Meaning (38:01) How to Live

If you enjoyed this show, please let me know on Twitter (@nateliason) or Instagram (@nat_eliason)