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For those who don’t know, Anthony Bourdain was an author and a TV host who dealt with food as cultural harmony, food as empathy and unity. He traveled about the world introducing us to different cultures, different ways of life, and presented our commonality as humans. We all eat, right?
I enjoyed Anthony Bourdain’s work and often saw the connection, the relationship, the profound concept behind the Lord’s invitation to His table, communion, our spiritual connection that takes place when we sit down as saints together. Anthony really helped me to value and appreciate the gift Jesus gave us in the last supper, the ritual, the significance, the way He knew that even thousands of years later His people would be partaking in a meal together in remembrance of Him. Communion is so much more than “a meal,” and bread is not just “bread,” but I do so love how those common symbols were given to us in such beautiful and profound simplicity.
Sadly, Anthony Bourdain killed himself at 61 years old, in the height of his success, wealth, and fame. Near as I can tell, he never really reconciled his own relationship with the Lord. He once said he had Catholic DNA and the paperwork to prove it, but no interest in ever taking it any farther.
I’m going to respond to some things flowing through my Twitter feed and I don’t wish to annoy anyone, but they must be said. Anthony’s suicide was NOT “brave.” He completely abandoned an 11 yr old girl who really needed him and stamped her with trauma that will likely take a lifetime to free herself of.
Anthony was also NOT suffering from “mental health issues.” Spiritual health issues perhaps, but not mental health issues. We people in modern culture seem to like to just layer deception upon deception and then act as if we are just the innocent victims of some invisible boogeyman, like “mental health problems.” I’m not trying to be unkind here, but Anthony poured everything he could into the abyss of his soul, including drugs and alcohol. I am not sure why we as a culture don’t seem to grasp the fact that when we ingest massive amounts of a mood altering substances, our mood is going to be altered and our mental health is going to suffer.
Why have suicide rates increased by some 28% in the last decade or so? Because we also happen to be having an astounding opioid and addiction epidemic, an epidemic the likes of which have not been seen since the flu pandemic of 1918. For some perspective here, that pandemic afflicted one-third of the world’s population. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history, killing millions of people.
Nearly all suicides of the rich and famous, the iconic and popular, involve drugs and alcohol, addiction issues. Bourdain’s death is not a surprise, not a “great shock,” it is predictable, it has a cause and effect, albeit an invisible one no one really ever seems to want to talk about. Anthony poured whatever he could into the abyss of his soul and it killed him.
Anthony is also not “at peace among the stars.” It’s a lovely platitude and I have no idea where he is right now, I am just saying there is no, “place of peace among the stars,” this vague grey area of limbo where people can die and just go off gently to trip the light fantastic among the stars.
I don’t mean to sound harsh here or devoid of empathy, it is just that deception and lies kill real, actual people. They are deadly lies. We deny the truth of addiction, portray ourselves as victims of our own mental health, deny the spiritual hunger people have for their Creator, call suicide “brave,” tweet out that someone is now “at peace among the stars,” and then act surprised and shocked by people choosing death?
Addiction and suicide are being romanticized and portrayed as, “a brave path to the peace of the stars.” Let me say right now, suicide is NOT brave. It is permanent solution to the temporary inability to cope with one’s own pain. Suicide is also selfishness, it leaves behind real victims and creates a lifetime of wounds, like the ones that 11 yr old child is experiencing right now.
Anthony Bourdain was an incredibly talented and gifted man, richly blessed with opportunity and reward, blessed with good health and money, but so spiritually impoverished that he eventually took his own life.
If he wasn’t at peace in this world, than there is no reason to believe he is now, “at peace among the stars,” either.
Faith matters in this life, faith teaches you to take your eyes off your own pain and to look up. It teaches you how to look about and see the needs of others and your obligation to them. It teaches you about the kind of courage required to bravely face your own pain, to set it down at the foot of the cross, and to sacrificially love those around you.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Sadly, another example of why Jesus warned how hard it is for the rich to enter Heaven. Regardless how lavish the funeral, they are merely well dressed, but with nowhere to go. We ALL have a void that can only be filled with God. Those who tragically attempt to fill it with anything/everything else remain empty and unfulfilled.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” – Mt. 11:28.Accept Christ’s invitation, the ONLY eternal rest.
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Sad but true, MJ.
“We ALL have a void that can only be filled with God. Those who tragically attempt to fill it with anything/everything else remain empty and unfulfilled.”
Yes. That’s one reason why it’s so awful that we are living in a culture where it is politically correct to shy away from God as if all religion or no religion at all, is the same. No big deal, not really important. Well, it IS important because the absence of faith leaves us really adrift in the world, hungering for something we just can’t find.
Bourdain is really tragic in the sense that he was greatly loved by many and we watched him travel the world sitting down to table after table….. but never quite the right table.
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Celebrity suicides are deeply disturbing, and I agree with you that many wrong things are being said today. I never met Mr. Bourdain or even watched his show. I cannot evaluate whether or not he was mentally ill. Many things that used to be considered problems of their own kind are now classed with mental illness, include substance abuse. As a Christian, I understand that substance abuse is idolatry, but that hasn’t stopped me from a lifetime of using coffee and chocolate (among other legal substances) to alter my mood. It is common for people facing anxiety and depression every day to try to escape by using alcohol and stronger drugs. I agree with you that the best answer–the only answer–is Jesus Christ. That does not change the fact that, in this sin-polluted world, some faithful Christians still wrestle with anxiety and depression. Some faithful Christians still self-medicate with alcohol and other substances. Some faithful Christians still attempt suicide. If the prophet Elijah was in such a dark depression that he begged God to take his life, then perhaps we should withhold judgment. J.
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Well, we all suffer from a myriad of afflictions. The issue being they are “afflictions.” As Christians we have a standard in which to measure them as undesirable. Now enter into Anthony’s world of non judgment, where there is no faith, where the abuse of alcohol and drugs, money, sex, fame are all perceived as a way of life, as a desirable state of being and not an affliction at all.
Anthony was not a victim of his own brain chemistry. He made a lifetime of choices to reject the Lord, to even reject the need for healing of any sort. He then proceeded to spread that misery around to the ones who loved him. That 11 yr old kid of his should be angry,furious, not forced to perceive her father as a hapless victim and herself a victim hater, for not just being more supportive of his many crappy choices ,including the choice to abandon her.
Anther issue that begins to bother me, in our quest to withhold judgment are we also going to withhold judgment on those who refuse, reject, choose not to have Jesus Christ in their life? Are we going to start evangelizing from this place of “all choices are equal and valid?” Is atheism now a perfectly reasonable choice, just a quirk of brain chemistry we should stop being so judgmental about?
We have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I think God did in the case of the prophet Elijah. Or at least He sent ravens to feed him. He could have said, well I don’t want to judge your afflictions or your symptoms,or make you feel bad about suicide or anything.
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“Are we going to withhold judgment…?” Absolutely. That’s Christ’s job, to judge; our job is to rebuke sinners and to share God’s promises, hoping to call them to faith. You know me too well to think that I would say that “all choices are equal and valid,” especially in matters of faith. Addiction is idolatry, which is a sin. Suicide is murder, which is a sin. Christ died on the cross to forgive all sins. He paid in full for them all. Yet we are all afflicted in various ways, living in a sin-polluted world. Those who are overwhelmed by anxiety and despair are not somehow less worthy of our sympathy that those who are overwhelmed by cancer or heart disease. J.
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Mental illness, such as clinical depression, is a disease, just like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. The difference is that the main organ involved happens to be the brain, which humans tend to shrug off because we just aren’t that caught up yet.
Just like any other illness, symptoms arise. If left to fester, it the illness can get worse. Some can shake off the disease, some cannot. Some need medication, some do not. Sometimes it may even run in families. Some may need to relearn how to appropriately interact with others.
A clinically depressed person can not only be feeling mentally ill, but manifest physically painful symptoms at the same time. Put those together, and the pain may be too much for that person to handle, and I think anyone would plead mercy.
May we have faith that God gives us the strength to make it through 🙏🤙
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Reblogged this on The Recovering Legalist and commented:
I’m going to reblog this in order to give me a reason to share my own thoughts. Thanks for priming the pump.
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I agree with your assessment IB.
However, I personally did not care for Bourdain or his shows as I thought his presentations often arrogant, pretentious and I had a difficult time getting past his flippant proclivity use of the F-word and other lovely words.
And yet I do agree with your assessment.
Suicide is not brave.
It matters not if it is the taking of a “famous” life or not.
He and Kate Spade both left behind young daughters and despite Ms Spade having left a letter for her daughter reassuring her that she had nothing to do with her mom’s actions, she will most likely spend a lifetime wondering what she could have done or not done to help…a very heavy burden.
It is truly a matter of Spiritual health.
This as we are watching those who seem to have all they could ever want—be it fame, money, family, friends—who rather don’t seem to have what they truely need…and that is something very deeply fulfilling on a Spiritual level.
Suicide has affected my family through the suicide of my brother to a dear close friend of my son’s—a young man who was deeply committed Christian, young father and young pastor, who unbeknownst to those closest to him, was unraveling.
And yet there was a deep Spiritual void…
Faith does matter.
When all that the world holds for us comes up empty…the deep connection to a God greater than all that there is…is our life line
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Agree with you here Julie
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Thanks Jim
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Reblogged this on Thoughts on culture, politics and more and commented:
I was saddened to hear about this. Thanks to IB for speaking the truth.
“Anthony Bourdain was an incredibly talented and gifted man, richly blessed with opportunity and reward, blessed with good health and money, but so spiritually impoverished that he eventually took his own life.”
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Addiction can have a devastating effect, and I do not think suicide is brave either, but the mind must be so addled if taking one’s own life seems like the only way our of whatever torment the sufferer is going through.
To suggest that faith is the answer is simply revolting.
That you would also presume that this faith must manifest in your /em> particular god is equally sick.
Burt if belief in a god – any god – stops a person from taking their own life then good.
Yet don’t for one second think the mind is any less addled.
Faith is simply giving the delusion a different focus.
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I’m pretty certain the good lady will not mind this comment
doug sez:
–But if belief in a god – any god – stops a person from taking their own life then good.
Yet don’t for one second think the mind is any less addled.
Faith is simply giving the delusion a different focus.–
Really now? So if an is-lam-a-bomb-a- mama straps on a device to kill others…………………this would be a good reason for her to live? I say let her blow herself up, and go away.
And don’t you dare compare the acts of believers with monsters who believe in the gods of Hero, Zero, Buddha, Chooda, Triton, and Nikon…………
Christians do not blow up others. So yeah, huge difference between the behavior of those who have experienced the grace of God.
And ‘faith gives the delusion a different focus?’ Do you ever stop and think before you write, or are you just a ponding monkey?
Is it delusion for a girl of three to jump ‘by faith’ into her Daddy’s arms from a wall. having never done so before?????????
Or will you embarrass yourself further by trying to steal her faith too?
Christianity certainly is not magic, but when done right, puts all other isms and schisms out to lunch. No comparison. But we all agree it is a sad thing when anybody kills themselves, but stop trying to bring down faith to the graveyard of godlessness where nothing lives
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Hmmm. Am I poking a raw nerve, CS?
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It is you whose comment is off the rails, not mine. 😉
Most reasonable would agree, since you cannot make a distinction between the only God of creation, and all other wannabes.
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Good stuff IB
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Interesting post. I think more people share your views than they’d admit. Personally, I’m half and half. I think suicide is selfish. Extremely selfish. It shouldn’t be taboo to say that. However, I disagree with your dismissal of his mental health issues. Someone imbibing drugs and alcohol to mask their pain is doing so for a reason. That’s where the mental health issues kick in…
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Amen!
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Good word, IB. I don’t know a thing about mental health issues per se. I know a bit about addiction, but that is all. I do know your assessment of the fact that those who leave this life without the Lord don’t rest easily among the starts for eternity is exactly right, and we can never NOT say that, even when it hurts.
BTW, thanks for the good word over at the OTHER place earlier and the back up.
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Really sad, but as you said, predictable. People are all about giving “dignity in death” even though there is absolutely no dignity in ending one’s life prematurely. There is no honor.
I almost felt like crying today after a discussion at lunchtime in my workplace about euthanasia. Turns out it’s really hard to convince people that there is more to life than avoiding and getting rid of pain. First it’s about physical pain, and then we’ll have assisted suicide as the solution to mental pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain, life failures…it’s already happening in many places. It makes my soul ache. This is what happens when we forget to Whom our lives truly belong.
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Good post sister
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Couldn’t agree more and thank you for having the hutzpah or whatever it’s called to speak truth about it with love. The platitudes everyone throws out are untrue and not helpful. The clinical ones just scream ‘you don’t know about mental illness, don’t judge’ etc. and all I can think is ‘well you apparently don’t know about the spiritual world and the battle happening for your soul…’ Spiritual battles need spiritual weapons. Pills and 800 numbers are fine but they are not a solution for a sin sick soul. Maybe for a time… I guess I just believe that there’s a stronger spiritual element at play here that we have dismissed. Strange that in a world
so full of so called ‘knowledge’ about such things, we are still falling victim to it at an alarming rate.
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For the longest time, I suspected something was not quite right about the fella. No clue what it was, had no real reason to even think it, just an instinct; seems there was a bit of justification now.
But your next to the last paragraph is very good.
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Awesome. Simply awesome. You are fantastic. I will share this. God bless.
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Reblogged this on Stephanie Parker McKean.
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https://invertedlogicblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/philosophical-rants17-a-philosopher-by-another-name-anthony-bourdain/
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Well said.
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One of my favorite studies showed that in countries with legal euthanasia, Christian doctors were less likely than Atheist doctors to choose “assisted suicide” for patients. The assumption by the non-religious is that Christians think people are going to heaven anyway and getting patients there faster would be fine with them. Instead, the Atheists, who believe that when you die, that’s it, have no qualms about sentencing someone to oblivion.
It’s about respect for life. If heaven is so great, then there’s a reason we’re on Earth first and we should probably figure out what that reason is before Step 2. Anthony Bourdain simply could not understand that life was worth living and that’s an all too common belief.
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