How to find meaning in a world that offers no certainty about its existence, from the award-winning authors of Mortals.
Being human is hard.
From early childhood, we start to become aware of the difficulties we must all inevitably face. We will battle an inner critic across the entirety of our life. We will never truly know those around us and time will destroy all we create. Death becomes a reality, and we cannot escape the knowledge that it is coming for us all. These are the problems of being; the existential truths that make it harder to be human than a hamster or a herring.
Many other problems emerge from the knowledge of our own mortality. How do we find meaning, choose a life path, form an identity, face uncertainty, cope with hardship and, ultimately, bear the loss of all we love? How do we make peace with the inner voice that won't stop attacking the choices we've made and the opportunities we've missed? How do we deal with the uncertain and unpredictable nature of the world and our future?
In this book, daughter–father psychologists Rachel E. Menzies and Ross G. Menzies explore what it means to be human, and our shared need for love, meaning and self-understanding. They highlight the power of hope, the role of purpose in wellbeing, and how acceptance is key to a more authentic and joyful life.
This is the beauty of being.
'This book turns existential dread into existential clarity. Wise words on living life to the full.' Professor David Veale, Kings College London
'Few books capture so powerfully the paradox of being human: that self-awareness both elevates us and unsettles us. Being is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand anxiety, identity, and the shadow of mortality.' Professor Thomas Heidenreich, Esslingen University
About the Author
Dr Rachel E. Menzies is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, where she completed her Honours, Masters and PhD degrees in psychology. Rachel published her first paper on death anxiety and mental illness in Clinical Psychology Review as an undergraduate student. Her experimental work on death anxiety and psychopathology has been published in the leading journals in clinical psychology. Rachel has been invited to deliver numerous keynote and plenary addresses at national and international conferences.
In 2021, Rachel won the national PhD Prize from the Australian Psychological Society (APS) for her work on death anxiety, its role in psychopathology, and its treatment. In 2023, she was awarded the national APS Early Career Research Award. Rachel has published six books on the topic of existential issues. Along with her co-author and father, her book Mortals was awarded several national and international book prizes, including the Nib People's Choice Prize and American Psychological Association's 2023 William James Book Award. Rachel serves on the editorial board of Death Studies, and the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology. In addition to her academic work, Rachel is a clinical psychologist and Director of the Menzies Anxiety Centre. Rachel lives with her husband and daughter in the inner city of Sydney.
Professor Ross G. Menzies completed his undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in psychology at the University of NSW. He is currently Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In 1991, he was appointed founding Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Sydney, a post which he held for over 20 years. He is the National President of the Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (AACBT). He was the editor of Australia's national CBT journal, Behaviour Change, for 17 years and has trained psychologists, psychiatrists and allied health workers in CBT around the globe.
Professor Menzies is an active researcher with three decades of continuous funding from national competitive sources. He has produced 10 books and more than 230 journal papers and book chapters and was the President and Convenor of the 8th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT) in Melbourne in 2016. He is the President-Elect of the World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT) based in New York. Ross runs a large private practice in Glebe, where he has been based for 25 years. He lives in the inner-west of Sydney with his wife, youngest children and two labradoodles.
