The Denial of Death  had a significant  impact on me when I read it more than 20 years ago. I came across a quote from it as I was cleaning out my things:

“This, after all is said and done, is the only real problem of life, the only worthwhile occupation of man: What is one’s true talent, his secret

gift, his authentic vocation? In what way is one truly unique, and how can he express his uniqueness , give it form, dedicate it to something beyond himself? How can the person take his private inner being, the great mystery that he feels  at the heart of himself,  his emotions, his yearnings, and use them to live  more distinctively, to enrich both himself and mankind with the peculiar quality of his talent?”

But he also wrote, “Creation is a nightmare spectacular taking place on a planet that has been soaked for hundreds of millions of years in the blood of all its creatures.” (p 282)  Makes you think, huh?