ABSTRACT
Nothing distinguishes one community more sharply from another than its beliefs concerning the meaning of life, the position of men in the universe, and the ultimate significance of affliction and suffering. We all like to pretend that unpleasant things, and especially death, do not really happen - except to others (and preferably those we dislike). Yet when we are involved personally we are forced to acknowledge their existence and to try to under stand them. Thus the ways in which we interpret and come to terms with these unpalatable facts of life reveal our deepest and most cherished cultural assumptions.
