In response to the young
woman who has identified herself as a previous student of Thad's and continues
to attend our discussions:
This past Wednesday, in
speaking on your own experiences with death, you made mention of a frame-of-thought
that I believe eludes the majority of people. To the severely depressed (myself
included), the appeal of death is almost dreamlike. As I recall, you alluded
beautifully to this temptation when you said 'Sometimes, all I want to do is
die,' or something to that end. In essence, this isn't so much a pursuit of
something more pleasurable as it is an avoidance of one's pain and misery.
During my own psychotic episodes, it was a sense of calm and stillness that I
saw in death that attracted me to it, a relief from all struggles to
exist.
To this end, I believe a
perspective such as this is very much consistent with Albert Camus' assessment
of the three responses to Absurdity. Ironically enough (considering my intimate
relationship with suicidal thoughts), my group was assigned to Camus for this
semester's presentation and my preconceptions of how others view suicide
couldn't have been more correct. I recall that while brainstorming on how to
conduct our class discussion, one of the group members suggested that we
require certain sections of the class to assume a predetermined position,
regardless of where an individual's own convictions may lie. The same group
member proceeded to substantiate this approach by suggesting that no one would
seriously consider suicide as a viable option. This is where he was wrong; but
I just sat quietly shaking my head with a subtle smirk on my face. Fact of the
matter is, death is very real and can be very attractive to some. Take it
from me, and the young lady who opted to share her life with us on Wednesday:
Perceptions of death are as unique as the individual.
I enjoyed your blog. Death is a perception that is different to all. It is important to remember that death is something we can not really understand ever until we are dead and even then we may not be able to understand it because we no longer are alive. I really enjoyed that people with tough circumstances told there stories about death because it is crazy how the idea can affect ones life so much. Death can be such a hard topic to discuss but I believe it is better to discuss it then keep in deep inside of you. I think that the topic of death can be very attractive to some but for me it has never been an option. I am a person that seems to try my hardest to have a positive attitude in life. This can be a struggle sometimes but that is what makes life awesome. Working through the challenges and facing it them head on or as one student said grab them by the balls.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your blog, Truman. Death is a very controversial topic, some accept it as it is, some embrace it, some are waiting for it, some are afraid of it, others don’t want to think about it but are still afraid of it, and others live their lives as if it will never happen. One thing is for sure is that death is inevitable. Everyone on Earth has or will experience death both first-hand and second hand. Sometimes the death of a love one could be worse than the death of yourself. Death is so scary because it has the reputation that it is the ultimate end, but how are we truly sure? I mean, I never signed up to be alive yet I’m a conscious being, we still don’t truly understand science, 97% of our DNA isn’t being used, I believe that there is something beyond death and it isn’t a heaven or hell, it’s in your mind, kind’ve, like an astral plane where you imagine your destiny as well as many other dimension, I don’t know it’s kind’ve weird but I got into spirituality during winter break and it was really interesting and in particular this cartoon web series on YouTube, called Spirit Science was pretty interesting, but I’m still not sure what to believe about death or anything until I’ve further experienced life.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about death, I really am. However it does not necessarily mean I want to die, even if I do see it as relief from burdens and the tedious nature of life. If death is inevitable, no matter how long we put it off for I'd rather live till I feel fulfilled, my lack of life experience prevents me from being able to choose death, if it came for me I would accept it.
ReplyDeleteI understand your motivations and where you are coming from in regards to your feels on death however is there really no fear or anxiousness about it, and if there is not why aren't you dead? There must be something in life that you continue to long for despite the relief you see may lie in death. I guess I just wonder if it actually works like that. I've considered the situation with myself in your position and I think I would always wonder if it wasn't worse afterwards, not necessarily hell but it just doesn't end. To safely take the position that there is a calm or lack of pain and suffering in death would imply that you believe there is nothing after life.