He's a Fool Who Stays Alive

A young man sits alone on a hillside, beside a tree that seems to be waiting for lightning, and Zarathustra sits down next to him. Clancy Martin reads the scene twice: once as the book's translator, and once as a man who attempted suicide, survived, and is grateful he did. That second reading turns On the Preachers of Death from a period piece into something urgent, because the preachers are still preaching. Martin answers them with a thought experiment, an accidental history of how suicide became taboo, and the counsel he actually gives people in crisis, which is more ordinary than you would ever guess, and works.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you love is struggling, or thinking about suicide, you don't have to carry it alone. In the United States, you can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, or chat online at 988lifeline.org. Outside the United States, findahelpline.com lists free, confidential support lines by country.