from the book Suicide..the Forever Decision Paul Quinnett writes:

"I can't know whether or not you have a philosophy of life. But maybe, if you've been thinking about the suicide decision, you don't. Maybe, because life has seemed so unbearable lately, our beliefs in what is positive and valuable and worthwhile about life have been shattered. Maybe, in this dark hour, you are having trouble finding a purpose, a meaning, a reason to go on living. I don't know how it is with you and, unless we meet somewhere sometime, there is no way I can.

But having worked with many people like yourself, I know for certain that one of the things we most need to see us through the tough times is a belief that life, despite its pain and disappointments is, in the final analysis, better than whatever death holds for us. And this belief, however we put words or actions to it, is our philosophy of life."

He goes on:

"I don't know when or how one develops a philosophy of life. I am not sure how one comes to own a particular set of values or ideas or convictions or principles or whatever you choose to call those beliefs around which our lives turn more or less smoothly, but somehow, as we add one year upon another, I believe all of us come to some reckoning of our unique place in humanity, in the world, and in the cosmos. And, at least from my point of vuew, without knowing this place, we are never quite complete, can never be quite content, and can never feel entirely at peace in this sometimes crazy and painful world."