With the truth, one cannot live. To be able to live one needs illusions, not only outer illusions such as art, religion, philosophy, science and love afford, but inner illusions which first condition the outer [i.e., a secure sense of one’s active powers, and of being able to count on the powers of others]. The more a man can take reality as truth, appearance as essence, the sounder, the better adjusted, the happier will he be... this constantly effective process of self-deceiving, pretending and blundering, is no psychopathological mechanism....

— Otto Rank, via denial-of-deathch. 9

uses-and-disadvantages-of-history-for-life: one can only act by drawing a boundary around oneself, around one's time, and choosing to forget or ignore all else