Tag Archives: suicide

Stay

JD Schramm on coming out of the suicide closet: __________ And here’s a good new book on the issue of suicide.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Meaning of Life in the Midst of Large Numbers

In For the Time Being (1999), Annie Dillard (b. 1945) writes the following: “There is now, living in New York City, a church-sanctioned hermit, Theresa Mancuso, who wrote recently, ‘The thing we desperately need is to face the way it is’” … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What Does It Really Mean To Face Reality and Death?

In her work of creative nonfiction, For the Time Being (1999), Annie Dillard (b. 1945) writes the following: There is now, living in New York City, a church-sanctioned hermit, Theresa Mancuso, who wrote recently, “The thing we desperately need is … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What does it mean to live in a contingent universe?

Does this mean the end of metaphysics (at least for this bicyclist)?: I think that the below Walker Percy quote, though about declining suicide (not the lucky escape of an accident) goes rather nicely with the above video. The above bicyclist, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I think that Henry David Thoreau would have liked Dr. Michael de Ridder

In Spiegel this weekend, Dr. Michael de Ridder advocates a return to simplicity in human death: no frantic rushing about, no elaborate rescue measures: Dying a simple death is no longer an option in our society, even in places where one might … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A 2012 Prophecy: Suicides Will Accompany the Advent of December 21, 2012

It’s not a nice thought, but this is an easy prophecy to make. And it’s the singular prophecy surrounding December 21, 2012 that will almost surely come to pass. Perhaps you remember Heaven’s Gate. Heaven’s Gate was a San Diego based cult whose … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory” (1897): A Poem on the Turning Wheel of Fortune and Misleading Appearances

Who’s up, who’s down? It can change pretty quickly. And who knows what’s going on beneath appearances? Here’s a poem titled “Richard Cory” (by Edwin Arlington Robinson, written in 1897): Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quote of the Day

In 1837, George Sand wrote: We cannot tear out a single page of our lives, but we can throw the whole book in the fire. I would qualify Sand’s observation by noting that many people are actually quite good at … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Suicide is Painless? Albert Camus’s First Problem of Philosophy—and the Southern Novelist Walker Percy’s Answer to It

Is the game worth the candle—or not? And if life is worth living, why aren’t you doing it? I like this reflection on suicide in Walker Percy’s brilliant Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self Help Book (Pocket Books 1984, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments