is suicide selfish or beautiful?

i personally have always held the belief that committing suicide is a beautiful act. it is not selfish but selfless. a person who kills themselves is a brave and wise person. you see the average person is selfish and would not want to die at all, they love their life and they want to keep living to keep experiencing their little slice of heaven. but the ones who die by suicide are unhappy with what was given to them OR they ruined their chances OR mental illness kicked in, the bottom line is this idea that suicide is selfish is wrong. the ones who claim it is selfish are truly selfish for they know not why those poor souls would destroy themselves.

don't you see what's going on here, selfish people who love their lives look down upon those who took theirs, not because they understood why they did what they did, but because they claim they know what life is all about and they will say it's a selfish act. well i'm here to say it ain't selfish it's beautiful.

remember the monks who self-immolated themselves during the vietnam war, can you imagine the guts it took to burn themselves to death. they were literally on fire and did people call them selfish, of course not. they were courageous and fearless and we need to look up to those type of people. that is the truth. now tell me your opinion on the matter? do you agree? or do you disagree?

 

I don't know all of the ins and outs of why the monks self immolated, nor do I have a very good understanding of buddhism, but here's my 2 cents

I think that generally, suicide is considered a very bad thing by buddhists. one is avoiding facing one's karma, and losing the opportunity to attain enlightenment

self-immolation is an extraordinary act of protest. it is a sacrifice by the monks to get a point across. it is not a good thing in and of itself

generally, I think that monks should not protest this way since it leads many people to believe that suicide is really a good thing

I don't believe in trying to talk someone out of suicide if that is what they really want to do. I observe, however, that no one really wants to die. they just want to escape from a painful situation that seems hopeless to them.

in most cases, people can find ways to get better and want to live.

you may want to ask the same questions at

www.suicideforum.com there are also telephone hotline numbers available at www.befrienders.org

 

A good book to read about the history of suicide is THE SAVAGE GOD. The author actually knew Sylvia Plath (she died by suicide). Plus the author (I think his name is A. Alvarez) is a suicide survivor himself. Grim subject, but it's still worthy of serious study...

QP

 

Suicide is a cowardly act

 

It honestly depends on your situation.

A mother with dependant children committing suicide would be selfish, as a parent your children come first, their wellbeing and their future is down to you doing the right thing in those first years. Death affects everybody that person knows, whole families could be left not knowing why the person did it, blaming themselves, losing a loved one forever and never having an explanation.

But no body knows how another is truly feeling. A situation could really affect one person but not slightly affect another. Id say its neither selfish or selfless, but an act that shows desperation and a cry for help that was never answered.

I wouldn't call it a beautiful act, I think its very sad and heartbreaking when somebody feels so low that they feel their life has no value...

Its also a dangerous act. A family near where I live have been affected majorly by suicide.. This mother had lost her husband and two of her children to suicide, then a third child to a drug overdose (which they have said was accidental).. it isn't just the life taken that's destroyed, its the family, friends, colleagues.. http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/8327340.Triple_suicide_family_torn_apart_by_fourth_death/?ref=rss

 

i will look into that book, thanks. but is that all we have to say here? this is a touchy subject i realize that but what is the meaning of life, what is keeping people here, why do some have to exit. is it an act of courage or cowardice. is it selfish or selfless. if god is real, would he condemn these people or hold them up high as examples of righteousness?

 

sure it depends on your situation. i understand that. this all ties in with the idea that life is meaningless and that some people are mentally ill and that they view their lives in low esteem and that to me, how can someone who is "normal" or "happy" judge another, put circumstances aside, at the end of the day, we are all here to experience and live and love. so for some people to say ah the hell with that, to me that's a mystery and it's a beauty and a sadness..

 

Your life is subjective and ending it has no absolute moral bearing. Suicide is what it is. The act of ending your own life.

To live is to suffer, and if the meaning you find in suffering compels you to end it then there are no objective laws that prohibit you. But, such an act is not an independent phenomena and it is not exempt from consequence. Your death will impact the world around you, and many people very well may end up deeper in suffering simply because you could not stand your own.

I do not find beauty in suffering and that is my subjective belief.

 

If you put circumstance aside then it is no longer sad, or mysterious, or beautiful, it just is what it is and needs not be looked in to. Circumstance is the only reason for the act.

 

neg me instead of disliking my post cowards

 

You know I hear that alot, we all do, if you kill yourself your family and friends will suffer more. what a selfish statement, they will suffer more than the person who actually died. that is a deranged way of thinking. and i personally am tired of these selfish cliches that are always brought up when the thought of suicide enters discussion. to be honest family could very well be the reason why a person kills themselves, maybe they were raped or beaten by their mom or dad. and "friends" to me what friends, best friends, and how good a friend were they really? again you can't use these cliches and act like they hold water. at the end of the day friends cheat and steal and stab in the back most of the time. hate to say it.

 

Listen, my friend just ODed on Methadone today. I've been in tears all fucking day wondering how she is and if she was gonna be okay. So I hope this topic is a sick joke or something, but I'm gonna act like I didn't see it...

 

I also know how it feels to lose someoen close, to suicide. They don't know how much it hurts the people that knew them and cared for them.

 

aren't they in a better place though? you would have to at least feel good in a way that they aren't in pain or suffering anymore?

 

the point i'm trying to make is that we living people can't talk about how much worse things are because someone killed themselves, they are allegedly in a better place and we need to understand that. we can't assume things are so horrible now because what happens is we start to blame the victim, the victim of suicide. you see how selfish we are to try and criticize the victim. life is very real and cruel and bad things happen. we need to be humble and understand we couldn't help them in any way, we may have actually hurt them. sad to say..

 

Bullshit.
Plently of people in this world will have pulled through from a hard time with support. Sometimes the victim is too afraid to ask for help, they could be so low that they think no one cares. You have no idea because you are not them. It isn't just the 'he/she is not in my life anymore' that affects people, there is such a thing as empathy.. its a heartbreaking situation for everybody involved, their may be questions that cant be answered etc and its hard to have to deal with the thought that whoever it was felt that way. My friend did, and 3 years later it still affects deeply everybody he knew, not just bevause he isnt here anymore but because he actually felt like he couldn't be, without an explanation.

 

I would have, but it wouldnt let me.

 

haha, i knew it was you

 

i see we've drifted from the real question. is suicide an act of selfishness or cowardice or is it an act of bravery and courageousness? or is there a grey area in the middle?

 

I did not imply that one's family will suffer to a greater detail than the one who committed the act.

I am stating that the act itself is not separate from interdependent nature.
Killing yourself is absolutely not without consequence. And it is likely that killing yourself may condition more suffering which I cannot see as a beautiful thing.