From: Edwin Evans (ektimo@pacbell.net)
Date: Sun Nov 10 2002 - 15:07:48 MST
Samantha Atkins wrote:
> Is it rational to go on if you become convinced that there is no
> reasonable hope or if your world is hell? I would not dare claim I
> can answer that question for other people or in general. I can only
> answer it for myself.
I often suspect that people look at these questions backwards (though
I'm not saying you Samantha). That they struggle with a question like
"Should I commit suicide?" as a separate question from "What should I
do?" Yet 'commit suicide' is an answer to this initial, fundamental
question whereas "Should I commit suicide?" is a question that probably
just came up after internally hearing "Awful feeling! Stop the pain!
Won't you please stop the pain? I matter!"
I guess I know what your answer to the question is and you can guess
that I don't agree. I felt I should point out that it would be wrong for
anyone to struggle with this question by agonizing over whether their
"world is hell" or whether they have no hope or how it will affect
family and friends, without ever considering whether they are agonizing
over totally the wrong things (which I think they probably are).
(By the way, just in case you were wondering, I do have hope and my
world isn't hell..)
-Edwin
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