Dammit, Is All of This Even Worth It?

 Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life: Chapter 6

Jack Bortz

     Chapter 6 of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds, by John Kaag, is titled "Wonder and Hope." The uplifting title is immediately contested when confronted with the weighty question Kaag is asking in the text: Is life worth living? Page 169 of SSHM paints a picture of Kaag making his way to Brooklyn's Community Bookstore when he is struck by the sight of a sign at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, which states, "LIFE IS WORTH LIVING." This statement begs the question, why must there be a reminder of life's worth if it is indeed worth living inherently? Is life actually worth living? Why do some people endlessly wrestle with their existence on a daily basis, while others simply exist and do not question it? William James had his own thoughts on the matter. Page 170 of SSHM quotes James's 1870 letter to Benjamin Blood, stating that "no man is educated who has never dallied with the thought of suicide." On page 171 of SSHM, John Kaag suggests what he believes William James would have expressed if confronted with such a sign. Kaag believes that William James would simply repaint the sign to say: "LIFE IS WORTH LIVING - MAYBE." Below is a video that discusses his rejection of suicide and his 1895 address to Harvard students covering his writings in Is Life Worth Living? (1896):

                         

     Albert Camus once wrote, "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to understanding the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest - whether the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories - comes afterwards." He wrote this in The Myth of Sisyphus in 1942. The topic of suicide and the worth of life, or lack thereof, has long been debated amongst philosophers. Kant's views on suicide are extremely controversial in the modern world. Kant stated that, "He who so behaves, who has no respect for human nature and makes a thing of himself, becomes an Object of freewill. We are free to treat him as beast, as a thing, and to use him for our sport as we do a horse or a dog, for he is no longer a human being; he has made a thing of himself, and, having himself discarded his humanity, he cannot expect that others should respect humanity in him." Some philosophers have even gone so far on the other side as to defend suicide, as explained in the video below:

    What, then, should be done about this problem of suicide? Is life worth living? My perspective on the matter is one that is quite personal to me. Quite simply, I believe that life is worth living. The alternative to life is death, and death is mostly unknown to humanity. Not even in my religious training have I been given a perfect answer to the question of "what happens when we die?" The scientific explanations are clearly not enough for us, as they cannot explain to us what it feels like, or how it makes us think. So, if I have no understandable alternative to life, then life it is. For whatever purpose, we are all alive for a reason. If we committed suicide at the first sign of an existential storm, then we may very well be cheating humanity out of all we have to offer. To those who say, "but I have nothing to offer," I would encourage you to consider this: your offering to the world does not end with you. If you choose to have children, it does not end with you. If you have counseled a friend in a time of need, it does not end with you. This is to say that the impact that you have on the world can bring value to those around you, and to prematurely end your life out of existential desperation is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, which in turn deprives the world and those you surround yourself with of all you have to offer. 

    Even if you do not view life as "worth it," what makes you so sure that death is? You have never tried death before, and you can never go back after doing so. Here is an example of this: if you were to hate a pair of shoes you currently owned and got so frustrated that you resigned to never wear shoes again, you would never know what it feels like to wear the right pair of shoes. The right kind of shoes are a pair of shoes that fit you perfectly, allow peak athletic performance, and compliment your personal style. All of the benefits of the perfect pair of shoes would always elude you, all because of your frustration with a pair of shoes that you were not forced to keep and could have replaced with another pair had you looked hard enough. To be clear, you could say that your current pair of shoes makes you miserable and hurts your feet in such an unbearable way that you are tempted to give up on shoes entirely, but to do so would be to rob yourself of the absolute pleasure of the shoes you are meant to wear. You could even craft a pair of shoes to your exact specifications, and then the fun really begins. This is how life is. You may hate your life, but if you give up on it and decide it is not worth it, you will never experience the life that you can create for yourself. William James is quoted as saying we must make "what we will" of life on page 171 of SSHM. 

    It is a profound shame that many are not given the chance to visualize a worthwhile life or are simply unable to do so. It is not easy to resist the temptation to give yourself over to the unknown, resolving to say, "anything is better than this, and I could not care less what that might be." 720,000 people every year have given themselves over to a fate such as this. Pages 171-172 of SSHM provide an all-too-familiar example of this, detailing the tragic loss of Steven Rose, who in 2014 ended his life by jumping off of William James Hall at Harvard University. Kaag wonders whether Rose could have been saved by the notion that he "was still in charge of his life, that the decision to end it all might be reasonable, even respectable, but so too was the possibility to live. The possibility was right there - still, always, even in the shit and rancor of it - for him to explore." He suggests that if Rose had been reminded of the other options that James proposed, he may have been saved. This serves as a powerful reminder that we must continually implore each other to keep living, for living is just as much an option as dying. How could you ever come to the conclusion that life is not worth it if you have not truly lived.  

      "LIFE IS WORTH LIVING - MAYBE." This is quite the statement. William James understood the issue, having struggled with suicidal ideation himself. His battle with depression influenced many of his philosophical beliefs. On page 172 of SSHM, John Kaag offers important wisdom regarding the suicide of Steven Rose. He writes, "for the majority of people, free will can be exercised in any number of ways, which don't have to include committing suicide, and in many of these cases one can choose to embody new habits of thought and action. This is the case, even when all is lost. If meaningful freedom seems evasive or unrealistic, most of us still have a choice about what to see and what to look past. This too can be worthwhile. 'The art of being wise,' James suggested, 'was knowing what to overlook.' Maybe these possibilities could have kept Steven Rose alive for even longer than they did. Maybe not. I refuse to presume." Kaag later suggests that the presumption that life has inherent value is a dangerous one and may even send some who struggle with suicidal ideation over the edge when this idea is forced upon them. In my view, a far better way to console those who question life's meaning is to remind them of the fact that death is, by definition, meaningless. Life may be meaningless, but death is more so. Death does not even offer the simple enjoyment of a beautiful day, a good cup of coffee, or listening to 90s death metal bands. There is nothing in death, not even death metal. Therefore, we must not trade something in life for nothing in death. 

    Suicide is a prevalent topic in our modern world, and one we must be very aware of. As per their website, if you are struggling with "thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress" do not hesitate to call the TN 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline. Simply call or text '988' to be connected with trained counselors. You can also chat online via this link. Choose life, it is always worth it in the end.