Understanding Suicidal Sentiment: Empathy, Presence, and Immanence

I have known several suicidal people,

often quite intimately,

too much so.

What is one to do there?

Consider:

Life from their point of view.

Life not as something visual,

but life as a sentiment inside.

What is that feeling for them?

Enter the ‘skin’ of the other,

not too long, not a fun place.

The feeling for them, immense:

“Pain swells as the future closes.”

“I am ruined beyond repair.”

“Alone, unwanted, and a burden.”

“Body screams, then goes numb.”

“Mind tunnels; choices vanish fast.”

“Fear fades; action feels impossible.”

“Storm rises, control slips away.”

“Sudden calm hides imminent danger.”

Ruined, unwanted, numb, tunnel,

fear, storm, slip, calm, danger,

immanence.

What is one to do there?

Often,

your presence,

to their immanence,

is all you can do,

for them.

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Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.

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Photo by Joe Shields on Unsplash