Ok well
Someone
This is very serious
And I don’t know if I should address it
Because I’m somewhat tired
But I’ll give it a shot
Because it’s important
And it’s very serious and a troublesome question
“I plan on taking my own life very soon. Why shouldn’t I?”
Well I’m going to assume this isn’t a casual question
You know
That’s been put out for the purposes of display
Well the first thing I would say is you have to think very carefully through the consequences of that for other people
So I’ve had clients in my clinical practice who never recovered from the suicide of a family member
Decades later they’re still torturing themselves about it
Someone
This is very serious
And I don’t know if I should address it
Because I’m somewhat tired
But I’ll give it a shot
Because it’s important
And it’s very serious and a troublesome question
“I plan on taking my own life very soon. Why shouldn’t I?”
Well I’m going to assume this isn’t a casual question
You know
That’s been put out for the purposes of display
Well the first thing I would say is you have to think very carefully through the consequences of that for other people
So I’ve had clients in my clinical practice who never recovered from the suicide of a family member
Decades later they’re still torturing themselves about it
“You talk sometimes about weak men - ah why are weak men such a problem?”
Well weak people are a problem in general
And I don’t mean physically weak, I mean cowardly and deceitful
I’m thinking more in terms of moral weakness
There’s a variety of reasons, first of all if you can’t support your own weight, let’s say, then someone else has to do it and that’s not good
If you don’t pick a forthright and useful and noble pathway through life then you’ll become bitter and too hurt by the tragedy of existence and then you tend to seek your revenge wherever you can get it and that’s not good
So, it’s a mistake on all fronts, it’s not good for you, it’s not good for your family, it’s not good for the community, it’s certainly not a good medium to long term strategy because life is very very difficult and you have to be prepared for that
Well weak people are a problem in general
And I don’t mean physically weak, I mean cowardly and deceitful
I’m thinking more in terms of moral weakness
There’s a variety of reasons, first of all if you can’t support your own weight, let’s say, then someone else has to do it and that’s not good
If you don’t pick a forthright and useful and noble pathway through life then you’ll become bitter and too hurt by the tragedy of existence and then you tend to seek your revenge wherever you can get it and that’s not good
So, it’s a mistake on all fronts, it’s not good for you, it’s not good for your family, it’s not good for the community, it’s certainly not a good medium to long term strategy because life is very very difficult and you have to be prepared for that
Tell the truth, or at least don’t lie
Do not do things that you hate
Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act
Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient
If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things
Pay attention
Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you
Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships
Do not do things that you hate
Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act
Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient
If you have to choose, be the one who does things, instead of the one who is seen to do things
Pay attention
Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you
Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships
Men don’t struggle for power
That isn’t what men do, not if they’re civilised
They size each other up and elect the competent to lead them
And they do that at every level of society
I worked in a rail crew in Southern Saskatchewan
They’re rough guys, like a lot of them had been in prison, you know
And when you first came onto the rail crew you got a stupid nickname and people teased you
And I remember this one kid called Lunchbucket, that was his nickname ‘cos he came to the rail crew with a lunch bucket that looked like his Mum had packed it
That was a bad idea
That isn’t what men do, not if they’re civilised
They size each other up and elect the competent to lead them
And they do that at every level of society
I worked in a rail crew in Southern Saskatchewan
They’re rough guys, like a lot of them had been in prison, you know
And when you first came onto the rail crew you got a stupid nickname and people teased you
And I remember this one kid called Lunchbucket, that was his nickname ‘cos he came to the rail crew with a lunch bucket that looked like his Mum had packed it
That was a bad idea
This is from Friedrich Nietzsche
You know, of course you probably know that he was the philosopher who announced the death of God
What he meant by that was that the fundamental metaphysics that underly Western culture had lost their foundation
And that the consequence of that would be the disintegration of the idea of value itself, especially of value hierarchies
He thought of the inevitable consequence of that
Or one of the consequences of that
A dramatic move towards a doctrine of radical equality
See because if value itself is destroyed
The value distinction between things so that one thing is not any better than another
You know, of course you probably know that he was the philosopher who announced the death of God
What he meant by that was that the fundamental metaphysics that underly Western culture had lost their foundation
And that the consequence of that would be the disintegration of the idea of value itself, especially of value hierarchies
He thought of the inevitable consequence of that
Or one of the consequences of that
A dramatic move towards a doctrine of radical equality
See because if value itself is destroyed
The value distinction between things so that one thing is not any better than another