The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life

by Sheldon Solomon

As their language evolved from its original crude social function, our ancestors began using it to address the questions that can only arise, and must inevitably arise, in self-conscious creatures: Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the meaning of life? What should I do while I’m here? What happens after I die? Narrative depictions of supernatural conceptions of reality became possible, and necessary. Myth, like art and ritual, lends form to abstract notions like the soul, or the idea of immortality. Myth making, according to cognitive psychologist Merlin Donald, may have been the original function of elaborated language, rather than providing answers to pragmatic “how-do-I-milk-this-goat?” questions. Indeed, all human societies, even the most primitive and technologically impoverished ones, have sophisticated creation myths, ideas about the structure of the universe, and explanations for what happens after death.