I know, human beings are born fasting, for death’s iftar table.

There are countless living beings in the world. But among them, only one species — us humans — is conscious of the passing of time and aware that we will eventually die.

Death is a reality that confronts us with the icy face of annihilation. In fact, simply knowing this truth and carrying its weight in our minds every day is difficult in itself.

As a result of this awareness, death reveals itself as the fundamental source of all our anxieties and the primary root of many psychological pathologies. A person may encounter death, fear it, or ignore it, but cannot escape it.

The fear of death exists everywhere and at all times. This fear is so deeply rooted that human beings spend a large part of their life energy denying death itself. Even creating things in life or reproducing to continue our lineage can be seen as ways of neutralizing death. We seek symbolic immortality by leaving permanent marks on the world.

To cope with the fear of nonexistence, people develop certain defenses. For example, trying to forget this reality as much as possible, repressing it, or avoiding confrontation with it. But the reality of death is persistent. It constantly reminds us of itself at different points in life.

This is where existential conflict emerges. In the words of Irvin Yalom, existential conflict is “the tension between the awareness of the inevitability of death and the desire to continue existing.”

Can human beings turn this tension to their advantage? In other words, can confronting the existence of death make life more meaningful and productive? Is it possible for death to contribute positively to our lives?

Clearly and in a single word: “yes.” But how?

If we want to truly live, we must prepare ourselves for death. We can do this preparation by confronting our own existence and discovering the meaning of our lives.

The meaning of life can never be obtained merely by examining its individual parts. Meaning is never formed from a single cause. Meaning is created by the human being, who exists beyond all those parts.

In fact, people create the meaning of their own lives. Yet sometimes this is not as easy as it sounds. To find meaning, one must search for it.

Existential Therapy bases its field of work on confronting the conflicts that arise from the consequences of human existence.

By focusing on themes such as death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness, Existential Therapy invites us on a journey toward discovering the meaning of life.