I find the following helpful, from my reading in the Grief and Loss course. The quote at the top is from a man called Golomb, who I am assuming is unrelated to the character from The Lord of the Rings:
What is authentic must be finite since one cannot own and grasp an
infinite process or entity. Death enters life to conclude it, making
possible its adequate explication. Hence, only Being-towards-death
can be fully meaningful and authentic. Each time we entertain the
possibility of dying we undertake an assessment of our Being. In our
anticipation we define our existence. (1995, p.l 07)
The concept of 'Being-toward-death' mentioned here is one introduced by
another important existentialist writer, Martin Heidegger (1962) who has
already been quoted. What he meant by this term is that it is necessary to
recognize that life cannot be separated from death in the sense that: (i) death
is an ever-present possibility; and (ii) death makes life finite and therefore
precious.
So is argued that authentic existence, the Existentialist life-cry, is absolutely dependent on the reality of death. I am interested by the idea of the 'explication' of life being the ending of it by death, that it becomes a necessary ally to life.
