“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act

without benefit of experience.”
– Henry Miller, American writer and painter

I read the text message and then sat down to read it again. “I’m in a dark place right now. I can’t fight this. No hope. No way out. I don’t want to stay in this world anymore.”

The implication hit hard. Here was someone in the depths of despair. Someone standing on the precipice, looking down at the waves and rocks below and firing one last flare into the night sky before leaning forward and allowing gravity to carry him into oblivion.

The 16th-century Spanish poet and mystic Saint John of the Cross referred to moments of desperation and despair – “without a gui...

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