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Why do we live?

burningranger

Ambience seeker
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Aug 3, 2017
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If you are trying to convince someone at the verge of suicide on the value of his/her life, how would you go about it? You could convey any message or feelings telepathically to this person, and this person would never hear or see you ever again (maybe you were an angel or about to depart yourself). What would you say or do (i can be anything, doesn't need to be grounded in total reality) to convince this person to the bone that there is value in staying alive? You could make the empire state building appear in front of her/his frontyard lawn or something)...or play a movie reel inside their mind. Or convey to them a feeling....Whatever it is, it could only be one last interaction with that person.....and this would have to lead the person to become self-motivated to stay here and live his/her life.

This has to factor in the fact that you don't know who this person is....so the onus is on the quality of your answer and life wisdom to be able to discern something that would have a higher chance of convincing someone of the value of their life.
 

Norrsken

self murderer
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Pull a Christmas Carol on their ass and make him go through their current life, then their past life, and then their future if he does go through with the suicide. Make them realize how much their deaths can and will affect the lives of others and how much they were really loved in the first place.

Them: "So you mean to tell me that if I kill myself, I wouldn't being able to meet Scarlett Johansson and have her marry me? And you have proof of this?"
Me: "Bitch you know the fuck I do, I'm a motherfuckin' ghost."
 

Red Memories

Haunted Echoes
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Usually when people I care about are suicidal (sadly happened before) I try to remind them.
1. if no one else cares, I do, that is one person.
2. It may seem bleak now, but there is so much hope and potential.
3. I remind them of their good traits.
4. I try to suggest they seek help (go to a hospital, etc.)
5. I continue to be there for them even after the episode passes.
 

Lark

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Personally, I dont believe in the lighting strike, "this one thing saved my life", narrative and a result I think that efforts, including the magic you describe, would be fruitless. Totally.

I do believe that if someone has not really made up their mind or is not that far down the road they are on which could involve suicide then interventions matter, all sorts of interventions or happens chance matter. Its my belief that that story, I think it was in chicken soup for the soul, it was circulated in a ton of chain mails and e-mails, it had someone says that they were on their way to do themselves in, had been experiencing bullying, and some randomer witnesses it, doesnt necessarily stop it in all the versions I've heard, but helps the guy pick up his books and says what an asshole thing it is he's witnessed, says can they walk with them and does and then says can they meet up for coffee the following day or see them at lunch or something and "that day, they saved my life" kind of thing isnt right. Unless the protagonist contemplating it hasnt been serious about it or considered it at length.

There is a brilliant although really disconcerting piece of cinema I saw once, some drunk decides he is going to do himself in, he hires a taxi driver and tells him what the deal is, wants him to drive him to a cliff someplace at the end of the week and he plans to kill himself and will give the taxi driver all his money but the taxi driver is horrified, he's some kind of refugee, so cant go to the authorities about it, he knows that unscrupulous others in his firm would snap the money up easily, so he strikes a deal, he will spend the entire week with the guy and try to convince him that he should not kill himself. Its a great movie. The taxi driver is an epitomy of biophilious living, he loves life, he cant understand why anyone would end theirs, he hasnt a great life but it is life, sacred, precious and good/fun, he takes pleasures in the little things and has a sort of unwavering happiness. The other guy is a mess, real alcoholic, angry and unsympathetic sort you really can not salvage anything from the wreck of their lives kind. Anyway. By the end of the week the guy fufils his deal, he drives him were he wants to go, when he goes to see if the guy is there or has jumped he is not there and you've no idea if he did or didnt jump. It just ends there kind of and you make up your own mind.

Now that guy had a plan, that guy was well and truly along the path of no return. Its a very different story to merely thinking about it.

It all kind of relates to Camus' myth of sysipus in which he says there is only one truly philosophical question and that is suicide, either life is worth living or it is not. I think it always is worth living.
 

Lark

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29,569
Usually when people I care about are suicidal (sadly happened before) I try to remind them.
1. if no one else cares, I do, that is one person.
2. It may seem bleak now, but there is so much hope and potential.
3. I remind them of their good traits.
4. I try to suggest they seek help (go to a hospital, etc.)
5. I continue to be there for them even after the episode passes.

The thing about people caring for people who have those tendencies is that they have to realise too that they will not be able to control events.

There's a good chance the person with those tendencies is not entirely in control either, I've read some really good books on the cognitive neuroscience of this all and I've spoken with abuse survivors and incompleted suicide survivors too and there is a kind of loss of control involves sometimes.
 

Yuurei

Noncompliant
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Oh, well, if we can use telepathy then this is easy.

I would just let them feel thecway I do when I am completely relaxed either just by sitting in the sun on a warm, wuiet day or by mefidating. They wont be able to even tell themselves from all existence and what they oercieve as suffering will have no meaning at all.
 

Madeleine

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Aug 21, 2017
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Your starting premise is that there is some inherent value in staying alive. And that such value is universal. If only the wannabe dead person would somehow see it....
What if there was no point to life beyond simply experiencing the concept and expanding it through the use of one's free will?
So, they've had all the experiencing they wanted and are done with the whole thing...I won't try to dissuade them. The choice to end it is as valid as any other.

IMO :D
 

burningranger

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Your starting premise is that there is some inherent value in staying alive. And that such value is universal. If only the wannabe dead person would somehow see it....
What if there was no point to life beyond simply experiencing the concept and expanding it through the use of one's free will?
So, they've had all the experiencing they wanted and are done with the whole thing...I won't try to dissuade them. The choice to end it is as valid as any other.

IMO :D

Well if there was no ppint to life beyond experiecing it as you say....that would also make for another inherent universal value :D So you can't escape the fact that you have some attitude towards it. In this scenario you are trying to convince the person. Doesn't matter why....the point is to engage posters creativity and for them to answer it on behalf of ANOTHER person....TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that there are no universal preferences....but mindful of the sheer potential in terms of different kinds of possible experiences and answers to the question "why choose life". :)
 

Madeleine

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Well if there was no ppint to life beyond experiecing it as you say....that would also make for another inherent universal value :D So you can't escape the fact that you have some attitude towards it. In this scenario you are trying to convince the person. Doesn't matter why....the point is to engage posters creativity and for them to answer it on behalf of ANOTHER person....TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that there are no universal preferences....but mindful of the sheer potential in terms of different kinds of possible experiences and answers to the question "why choose life". :)

I guess I had the title question in mind ("Why do we live"), when formulating my answer.
"Why we choose to live" is a somewhat different question. I am not altogether convinced that offering my subjective experience can convience anyone to choose life.
I'd live for the taste of pineapple alone, but what if the suicidal person hates that taste?
My proposition might just push them over the edge, if they were wavering :D
 

burningranger

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I guess I had the title question in mind ("Why do we live"), when formulating my answer.
"Why we choose to live" is a somewhat different question. I am not altogether convinced that offering my subjective experience can convience anyone to choose life.
I'd live for the taste of pineapple alone, but what if the suicidal person hates that taste?
My proposition might just push them over the edge, if they were wavering :D

You're no fun !:(
 

Jaguar

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I've already been in that position, I could hear the clicking of the gun through the phone. I convinced him I was psychic and saw great things coming in the future. It worked. :happy2:
 

Madeleine

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I've already been in that position, I could hear the clicking of the gun through the phone. I convinced him I was psychic and saw great things coming in the future. It worked. :happy2:

:happy2:
How far did you go with, hmmm, "stretching the truth"? Did you specify exactly what things you saw?
 

á´…eparted

passages
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Jan 25, 2014
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My thoughts on the matter nearly summarized:




Your starting premise is that there is some inherent value in staying alive. And that such value is universal. If only the wannabe dead person would somehow see it....
What if there was no point to life beyond simply experiencing the concept and expanding it through the use of one's free will?

So, they've had all the experiencing they wanted and are done with the whole thing...I won't try to dissuade them. The choice to end it is as valid as any other.

IMO :D

I was suicidal twice earlier this year. Now I am fine and doing quite well and am glad to be here. Despite that, I still don't see any point to existing or staying alive, it's all meaningless BS to me.

IMO and IME, trying to get someone to see meaning when they don't, doesn't help or work, it only makes things worse. When others tried to convince me of such I would just get quite pissed and want to get away from them, as they clearly didn't "get it". You need to argue with someone philosophy, not against it.
 
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Life is what you make it. Simple as that. If you're looking for a big plan or divine purpose it won't be explained here and now if it does exist. No those books written by man for man don't count. If a divine being exists not a single thing it has ever thought or said is contained in those works of fiction.

As for keeping some poor sap breathing tell him/her whatever the fuck you think will keep them alive. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to make myself drunk- or sick- or possibly both. Good evening.
 

burningranger

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Hmm I don't think people got the point of the thread :S
 

Mole

Permabanned
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Mar 20, 2008
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Hamlet and Natural Selection

Almost four thousand million years ago DNA learnt to replicate, and the rest is the history of natural selection.

We have a vast, almost unimaginable, history behind us, it is beyond extraordinary.

We have yet to learn how DNA learnt to replicate, I suspect though it is the result of laws of nature. If this is true, we can expect that life exists on the hundreds and hundreds of billions of other planets in the universe.

Unfortunately this is all lost on narcissists who only focus on themselves, and ask the question To be or not to be?. They are of course as mad as Hamlet.
 
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