We Believe Each Other into Being | Jennifer Michael Hecht

Becoming Wise

On Being Studios

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.2 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2019

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“Imagine yourself alone on this planet. Would anything be the same?” Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, philosopher, and historian who wants to change the way we talk to ourselves and each other about suicide and staying alive — starting with her insistence that we believe each other into being. “Sometimes when you can’t see what’s important about you, other people can.” Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It, Doubt: A History, and Who Said. Producer’s Note: Given the focus of Jennifer Michael Hecht’s work, this episode briefly touches on the topic of suicide. Find the transcript at onbeing.org.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Becoming Wise is supported by the Fetzer Institute.
0:10.0	I've had hundreds of big conversations, and my conversation partners share wisdom I carry with me wherever I go.
0:18.5	Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, a philosopher, and a historian,
0:23.1	and suicide has touched her life
0:25.2	as it has touched many of ours.
0:27.7	She wants to change the way
0:29.1	we talk to ourselves and each other
0:31.1	about suicide,
0:32.7	starting with her insistence
0:34.4	that we believe each other into being.
0:41.3	Music with her insistence that we believe each other into being. This is becoming wise. I'm Krista Tippett.
0:45.3	The discussion you want to have is not so much against suicide, but for staying alive for each other.
1:05.9	It's choosing life.
1:08.3	Yeah.
1:08.8	And it's, yeah, it's choosing living.
1:11.1	Yeah, choosing staying alive.
1:12.6	Choosing staying alive.
1:13.7	And yes, I thought of myself as an individual before I started doing this thinking in a way that I no longer do and I feel better.
1:25.4	And it doesn't really mean you have to go out and do a lot of communal things, though all sorts
1:29.3	of studies show that will help.
1:31.2	Force yourself to go be with other people is as a good start.
1:36.1	But it's also just this internal thing where I notice more that I'm part of this human
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -2146 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from On Being Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of On Being Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.