We are More Connected than We Think

It’s been less than a week since my friend took his own life.

My emotions are still pretty raw, and I find myself dwelling on little details and wondering, “How did this happen?”.

I often ask, “How did I miss this, when I spent time with this person a couple of times a week?”.

So, I’ve been looking for some answers from professionals on the web.

Suicide, and Hope for Our Future Selves

In this podcast and transcript, Krista Tippett interviews Michael Dr. Jennifer Michael Hecht; a poet, philosopher and historian of suicide both in modern and ancient history.

“Stay.” That’s the message that philosopher, poet, and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht puts at the center of her unusual writing about suicide.

She’s traced how the history of Western civilization has at times demonized those who commit suicide, at times celebrated it as a moral freedom.

She has struggled with suicidal places in her life and lost friends to it. As a scholar, she’s now proposing a new cultural reckoning with suicide, based not on morality or on rights, but on our essential need for each other. -Krista Tippett

Topics Include:

• Think of all we do to stop cancer, heart disease, and alcohol disease: doesn’t suicide need more attention? Especially considering the large numbers it victimizes?
• Can we stop suicide by better recognizing how much we need each other?

The On Being podcast explores religion and spiritual issues through conversations with a wide range of authors, artists, and philosophers and historians.

Find more Resources on Suicide I’ve gathered here at DavidBourne.com.