How Do We Face Our Own Mortality?

11/09/2009 at 8:00 p.m.

Death is a fact of life, an absolute and unavoidable certainty. And yet, death often comes as a shock, as if unexpected. Why? Because, contrary to all human experience, we just don't want to believe death will happen to us. A growing body of evidence suggests that the fear of death influences how we vote, shop and even how we judge our mothers. Does the fear of death shape how we live? NPR's Lynn Neary poses these questions to leading researchers in an engaging conversation about how we handle life and death.