This is a joining of two souls, simply because I have chosen to write about both topics at the same time.

I thought of suicide. I thought of the taking of one’s own life. I have noticed a pattern, in the taking of one person’s own life, and this pattern usually includes a group of people, no matter how large or small. It seems to come in clusters of people: you have the person who the world would entirely see, the world in its majority, those groups of people, as having absolutely nothing to contribue and nothing worthhile, even though that person is highly intelligent, brilliant. But, this person is often overlooked, having no degree from a university/college, no proclamations to make about important venues they have exhibited as a visual artist, played in as an artist, outlets through which their writings have been published, etc. This person seemingly cannot get their foot in the door.
(That’s why Brooklyn exists; simply to make it simple for selfish people).
Then, there is that person (or often several), your typical, lost and messed up soul who calls you friend in name, but quite suddenly will turn around and ignore you. This is because they have their own problems, of course, but never realize what they are fully, can never put a finger on what their troubles are, to the extent that you can. So really, whilst this person is pained, they still live ignorantly, blissfully.
And then, let’s say there are three in the group, you the core, the one who is suicidal, you have that other friend who is just kind of there; he or she replies to things you say, but doesn’t really care if you wish them a happy birthday or not, and won’t go to your birthday party.
These are just a few examples of persons in the mix, in that pool whom it seems often to be part of everything, that either contribute to, or…. are just there in the life of the person in the center, who winds up taking their own life. contribute to the one person in the center killing themselves.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the CONCEPT of determinism, which strangely, in its simplicity, has been able to be made into an actual “philosophy”. First off, this actually brilliantly ties in with what I just wrote above, as the determinist-mind will say to you, “That person had no choice but to kill themselves; that was it, and nothing else could be done; they arrived at that point and that was how it was meant to turn out”. You see, in ALL situations, even if we may not be capable emotionally at the time, of carrying out what we would TRULY want, through knowing the truth and what is right in our intellect, and instead choose the “wrong” the “less excellent”, that which merely hurts us more, in ALL scenarios, there are always AT LEAST TWO OPTIONS, minimal, if not more. And, I repeat, options. Now, that does not mean that you in that moment, as I said, may be capable of choosing that other option. However, simply by virtue of the fact that there IS in fact another choice that you KNOW about, though may be unable to mentally, physically, emotionally carry out, this rather pummels the entire concept of determinism to the ground. See, determinists do not believe that there is such thing as free will. They believe for example, that because they were raised in an aggressive Evangelical household, they did not choose to become an atheist. Now, part of that may be true. But, what has happened in this scenario, is that in woundedness from this “Christianity”, they have become so hurt and frightened, that they have sunk into what feels more safe and comfortable. And yes, they may not be capable of confronting Christianity, nor wanting to ever explore it, BUT, to deny that what they were instructed in, in that type of Christianity, to acknowledge that they simply were misled and what they were taught was not true Christianity, is defeatist. I mean not a bit of this in a harsh way. Here is a better and more straightforward example: You did something, you chose to do something, that you really didn’t want to do, but you just couldn’t help it in the moment. And yes it’s true, in that moment emotionally you had not the strength to choose otherwise. BUT, your awareness of the fact that you chose what you really would not have wanted to choose, shows that you ARE free. You now have the freedom to work more on yourself! You realize how you have been hurt, and perhaps next time, or the time after, you can choose better. Determinists sadly view free will as something black and white: that the concept is, things are easy, and we can either choose one or the other, while they as determinists know, just as we do, making choices is not easy, but they seem to think that we falsely believe we have the power to merely choose something, even if it is difficult.

No determinism. All the way.