I don’t often simply repeat stories, but I thought this data point worth sharing here, as it touches on much of what I write about. Suicide is a failure of a meaning system. Conversely, a meaning system is an answer to the question of why to live.
What I feel is happening is that we are increasingly surrounded by darkness in our media, of violence, and the hopelessness that violence leads to. We are also suffering from the high suicide rates among combat veterans.
Here is a list of suicide rates among countries. Greece is the lowest and South Korea is the highest. Low stress (at least until recently) and high stress. Hungary and Japan are way up there too.
I don’t have time to ponder this more fully. There are many reasons meaning systems fail, but one of them is that in shame-based cultures, the meaning of life is in meeting certain standards. Failing to meet those standards means that life is meaningless.
There is a lot of room for thought here, but I need to go.