If one insists that one of the prerequisites of leading the good life, or of enlightenment, is not to indulge in illusion, then one has to learn to live with death. Yet at the same time it is obviously no good going through life with something one is afraid of as a companion. In other words if one insists on having no illusions, one has to overcome the fear of death. Most people's reaction of course is to forget about death; they lose themselves in the social round and common chatter - and forget. Then death comes along, and for a moment they are horrified; and then they forget again. Indeed I think that one of the great functions of social life, as opposed to community life, is that it helps people to forget what they could not bear to think about. In this way it provides a valuable social service; it helps people to live reasonably useful lives in the community, when without the narcotic of social life they would not be able to do so. The Church provides people with fantasy, which is necessary to keep their imagination alive; and social life enables people to forget unpleasant reality. Each is the natural complement to the other.

But if one refuses to ignore the presence of death all around us; and…