Loved this article. Thank you for writing it. And I 100% agree with what you said at the end of how we venerate those who go to kill in wars for governments. Suicide gets the black stain in every way but sporting events, school assemblies and more get people out of their seats to honor those who "fought for freedom." It's as if both topics only receive the attention or energy that is comfortable. Again, really thought out article and you brought heart and intelligence. Well done.
Excellent! Thank you for your gracious comment. I'm glad more and more people are beginning to see the broken things of this world that go unaddressed.
There was something in existentialism that bugged me hard. I got most of it but it seems like the great existentialists didn't have the awareness that they claimed to have.
And then one day I found criticisms of Viktor Frankl.
He was motivated to find a way for people to not kill themselves in horrible conditions. He was a tool of the system. No judgement here, but why do we sanctify people so easily?
Very good points you make there. It reminds me of modern medicine: always masking the symptoms rather than treating the causes. And in many ways, this obsession with treating symptoms often becomes the cause of other afflictions. If a man needs to end his life but forces himself to stay alive due to fear of eternal sadistic torment, what does that do to him?
Sotiris Rex, thank you for covering this topic. Your shrewd observations on human psychology provide a lot of food for thoughts. What I found especially remarkable in your writing are the sense of humanity and a call for individual sovereignty and self-accountability. I enjoy your articles tremendously. Your work is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your kind words, Avon. What you just described is exactly what I want people to take away from my work: intellectual stimulation, individual sovereignty, self-accountability, humanity. Hope we can all together make a positive difference.
Usually I am surprised of how much I agree with what you write. But I believe you are completely missing the greater picture in this text.
Suicide is a terrible thing. But humans don't live their lives naturally. Everything is distorted in our lives. Our perception of authority, our perception of belonging, our perception of purpose, our perception of freedom and security. We ought to experience all these things in a very small social circle, and it has do be small because you can only have active part in these only if you know --well-- your fellow who you experience these things with. Now these things are distorted in a way that a few benefit from you and your way of living.
Humans are made to be anarchists with their fellow. I give extra weight on "their fellow" part, because this part is what is replaced by the so called "necessary" state. Humans are domesticated herd animals. And domestication has a great toll to the individuals. Suicide is a terrible symptom of the distortion that we have in our lives. It shouldn't happen. I am not saying it's bad, I am saying it's irrelevant in a natural setting.
I assume you forgot the toxicity of our environment, because you didn't mention anything in this text. I would like to know your thoughts on it, maybe in a new post?
“And perhaps this is what many suicides are: a final act of defiance against traumatic parents, the ultimate insult of rejecting the life they made.”
Very interesting point. I’ve read in Daniel Mackler’s “Breaking From Your Parents” something along these lines. Narcissistic parents and family members then use the suicide to go on sympathy crusades. It’s still all about them, and never about the individual.
I also like your perspective about having a parcel of the blame. I believe that ultimately every person is responsible for themselves and their choices, but there is something to be said about checking out on someone who is suffering and then returning when it’s too late to judge them.
A very uncomfortable read, in the sense that it’s got me thinking differently about this. Thank you.
There was a notorious sex offender in Israel, who upon being discovered and about to be put to task for his years of abuse committed suicide as voices started to speak out. It became a shush topic "Look at how bad slander or gossip can be!" said the brainless and heartless ones.
This is only to remark that when suicide is pitied (as often is) then we run the risk of it being weaponized into an escape.
Oh,you mean like Islamic terroristic suicide....that's certainly weaponising escape......isn't that's what taught tho,?...this (muslim)life isn't worth anything on this planet?...so,Inshallah without seeking ANY control over ones own life? ....
Loved this article. Thank you for writing it. And I 100% agree with what you said at the end of how we venerate those who go to kill in wars for governments. Suicide gets the black stain in every way but sporting events, school assemblies and more get people out of their seats to honor those who "fought for freedom." It's as if both topics only receive the attention or energy that is comfortable. Again, really thought out article and you brought heart and intelligence. Well done.
Excellent! Thank you for your gracious comment. I'm glad more and more people are beginning to see the broken things of this world that go unaddressed.
There was something in existentialism that bugged me hard. I got most of it but it seems like the great existentialists didn't have the awareness that they claimed to have.
And then one day I found criticisms of Viktor Frankl.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/authoritarian-therapy/201703/is-it-ok-criticize-saint-humanizing-viktor-frankl
He was motivated to find a way for people to not kill themselves in horrible conditions. He was a tool of the system. No judgement here, but why do we sanctify people so easily?
Interesting. "the great existentialists didn't have the awareness that they claimed to have." Could you please elaborate on that?
If Frankl was "fixing" suicide from his perspective, did he really help those people or he found a hack to make them not do it?
(He claimed to be in the concentration camp but was taken to do research on suicidal people.)
Did existentialism mute the natural honest response of a human in those conditions?
It's like how corporations adopted meditation to "help" their workers deal with shitty work conditions.
Did the religious ideas of reincarnation or the afterlife make people endure more shit without pushing back?
Very good points you make there. It reminds me of modern medicine: always masking the symptoms rather than treating the causes. And in many ways, this obsession with treating symptoms often becomes the cause of other afflictions. If a man needs to end his life but forces himself to stay alive due to fear of eternal sadistic torment, what does that do to him?
Gabor Mate was miserable to his wife and son because of the trauma.
It also explains why the Jews that went to start Israel were supportive of horrors they did on the Palestinians.
Hurt people hurt others.
Yes. https://sotiris.substack.com/p/the-cycle-of-abuse
Sotiris Rex, thank you for covering this topic. Your shrewd observations on human psychology provide a lot of food for thoughts. What I found especially remarkable in your writing are the sense of humanity and a call for individual sovereignty and self-accountability. I enjoy your articles tremendously. Your work is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your kind words, Avon. What you just described is exactly what I want people to take away from my work: intellectual stimulation, individual sovereignty, self-accountability, humanity. Hope we can all together make a positive difference.
Usually I am surprised of how much I agree with what you write. But I believe you are completely missing the greater picture in this text.
Suicide is a terrible thing. But humans don't live their lives naturally. Everything is distorted in our lives. Our perception of authority, our perception of belonging, our perception of purpose, our perception of freedom and security. We ought to experience all these things in a very small social circle, and it has do be small because you can only have active part in these only if you know --well-- your fellow who you experience these things with. Now these things are distorted in a way that a few benefit from you and your way of living.
Humans are made to be anarchists with their fellow. I give extra weight on "their fellow" part, because this part is what is replaced by the so called "necessary" state. Humans are domesticated herd animals. And domestication has a great toll to the individuals. Suicide is a terrible symptom of the distortion that we have in our lives. It shouldn't happen. I am not saying it's bad, I am saying it's irrelevant in a natural setting.
I assume you forgot the toxicity of our environment, because you didn't mention anything in this text. I would like to know your thoughts on it, maybe in a new post?
“And perhaps this is what many suicides are: a final act of defiance against traumatic parents, the ultimate insult of rejecting the life they made.”
Very interesting point. I’ve read in Daniel Mackler’s “Breaking From Your Parents” something along these lines. Narcissistic parents and family members then use the suicide to go on sympathy crusades. It’s still all about them, and never about the individual.
I also like your perspective about having a parcel of the blame. I believe that ultimately every person is responsible for themselves and their choices, but there is something to be said about checking out on someone who is suffering and then returning when it’s too late to judge them.
A very uncomfortable read, in the sense that it’s got me thinking differently about this. Thank you.
There was a notorious sex offender in Israel, who upon being discovered and about to be put to task for his years of abuse committed suicide as voices started to speak out. It became a shush topic "Look at how bad slander or gossip can be!" said the brainless and heartless ones.
This is only to remark that when suicide is pitied (as often is) then we run the risk of it being weaponized into an escape.
Being weaponized into an escape?
Because suicide is pitied, it can be used to escape social censure- the social censure that is just.
Oh,you mean like Islamic terroristic suicide....that's certainly weaponising escape......isn't that's what taught tho,?...this (muslim)life isn't worth anything on this planet?...so,Inshallah without seeking ANY control over ones own life? ....
Murder-suicide is a different. It’s something I don’t cover in this post. Maybe I should…