suicide, is that the suicide rate goes up markedly the richer and more developed a society

becomes. We might expect suicide rates to vary across time and place, but not to increase

alongside developments in wealth, comfort and security. That we should be unwittingly

creating nations in which more of us end up killing ourselves at our own hands appears

to negate the whole purpose of economic growth. Nevertheless, the disturbing connection was

first conclusively identified towards the end of the 19th century by the leading French

sociologist, Emile Durkheim – and has continued to be noted ever since. The suicide rate of

an undeveloped country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a fraction of the

rate in a developed nation like South Korea. The crucial factor behind people’s decision

to end their lives is not really wealth or poverty. As Durkheim discovered, it is the

extent to which the surrounding culture ascribes responsibility for failure to individuals

or else maintains a faith that poor luck, or divine intervention is to blame instead.

It so happens that as societies become modern and industrialised, they very frequently give

up their beliefs in demons and gods and start instead to trust in a meritocratic, individualistic

philosophy that suggests to people that their fate is always in their own hands. This may

sound generous but it carries an immense psychological burden, for it means that – when failures

occur – the individual is held entirely responsible for them. Reversals start to seem

like a horrendous judgement on one’s worth and a public humiliation from which there

may, at the extreme, seem no escape other than through annihilation.

There are two big cultural ideas that may help to mitigate the pressures upon us: Luck and Tragedy.

To believe in Luck is accurately to observe that merit and success are in fact never reliably

aligned; one may be a fool and win – or a virtuous person and fail. If we fully internalise

and widely share the notion of luck, then the shame of failure will be greatly reduced

and our agony along with it. We will be able to admit, publically and to ourselves, that

decent people can fail in their outward circumstances and, therefore, that professional success

isn’t the only, or even, the crucial marker of the merit of human beings.A Tragedy, as

it originated in Ancient Greece, is the story of a capable and intelligent person who happens

to make a small mistake – which, however, leads to appalling consequences. The point

of presenting such stories in very public ways (at Greek festivals the entire community

had to attend) was to continually renew acquaintance with a hugely important idea: that one can

be a likable, even admirable person, and end up in an utterly desperate situation. Tragedy

is the careful telling of how disaster can come into the lives of people like (or even

a bit nicer) than us. They – and hence we – are always deserving of compassion rather

than contempt. Durkheim knew that it is not prosperity by itself that increases the suicide

rate, the toxic element is an unwittingly cruel culture that assigns a high burden of

responsibility to us, while seeming to deny the truth that chance and tragedy will of

course always continue to affect our destinies. The real solution to a high suicide rate lies

in an unexpected place: an ideology that firmly reminds us that we are never the sole authors

of our destinies. and therfore should neither panic nor celebrate when we win or loose.

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