Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Entry #79

Genius Suicides
by Poch Peralta


D F Wallace just made it on the list of genius philosophers who committed suicide. His action triggered back questions which have been nagging at me for a long while: What type of people commit suicide? Why do some great artists and thinkers commit suicide and some do not?

Some artists grew up in a loving environment and some in harsh ‘fight or die’ one. Some die of sorrow while others die because they expressed their anger—they fought back. Depression or desperation did them in all right. But why did others escaped both? It’s either mental or spiritual strength after all isn’t it?

There are three things I observed on why people commit suicide: Either they can’t express anger, or they couldn’t control anger anymore, or worst, they are victims of false guilt (mainly because of wrong doctrines or training).

I wonder what and how D F Wallace could have written if he wasn’t taking drugs for depression for twenty years. No sarcasm here. I’m just wondering honestly because I sympathize with him.

9 comments:

Lena said...

interesting thought process... guess we never will know the reasons still.

laughingwolf said...

good questions, all...

Sameera Ansari said...

Nice observations :)

JR's Thumbprints said...

Escalate? De-escalate? Live? Die? Very philosophical.

JaneyV said...

Many things to ponder here. Perhaps these great thinkers over-thought life and forgot to live it.

Sarah Hina said...

Wallace was a great writer, and from everything I've read of him, a pretty great man, too. The anti-depressant he was on probably kept him alive, and writing, for much of his life. He was convinced to go off of it, due to its nasty side effects (it was an old drug), but crashed soon afterward. Unfortunately, nothing else helped. It really was a great loss. Especially for his wife and parents.

Interesting ideas to share, Poch. It's hard to find universal answers, I think. Each person is wonderfully unique, and that includes his/her demons.

BrownPhantom said...

Brings back memory of a supremely intelligent acquintance.

Catherine Vibert said...

Good questions all, and observations too. Does the mental illness make a good writer? Do drugs kill the creative seed? Without the drugs, would the person succumb to their illness and commit suicide? We are still in the dark ages in our treatment of mental issues, and I hope one day that great light will be shed on these issues.

My only problem with your story is that it didn't feel like a fiction story, it read like a commentary essay. Very well written though.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for being a wonderful part of the contest!