My late husband used to tell the story of a Martian chief who summons his head astronaut and orders an expedition to Earth. The chief is puzzled by an anomaly he has been observing over the aeons: earthlings appear to be born to live for a period of time, after which they die. Now a race, he argues, that knows it is going to die would be incapable of doing what earthlings do day in and day out—get out of bed, dress, go to their jobs, come home, eat their suppers, drink, laugh.

Had the expedition in that story actually taken place, the head astronaut would have brought this explanation home: the human race knows it is mortal but does not believe it. It believes what the serpent told Eve: ‘You are not going to die.’

Lore Segal, The Journal I Did Not Keep: New and Selected Writing (2019)