Suicide

In my quest to attain sheer rationality and objectivity I had to overcome my own biases, prejudices and subjectivity. In doing so, I concluded that there is no rational basis for choosing life over death.

 

Why then, should one, when facing the meaninglessness of life, not commit suicide?

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Permalink Reply by booklover on June 12, 2011 at 8:23am

I wouldn't do that to my kids ever, ever.  But you are lucky that you are randomly here, so why not try and find things that are enjoyable and make you feel good (helping people, animals, the environment?).

 

Permalink Reply by David Maxwell on June 12, 2011 at 9:46am

I suppose the best answer I can give is that basically life is what you make it mean. After all there is a bigger picture to it all; we just choose to see the smaller more immediate portion of it.

For me I see it like this, the universe has been around some 13 to 15 billion years, and out of it all, came me. What’s more is that we happen to be living in a time when mankind is coming to realize the nature of the universe, past, present and future. And of that, only a small percent of the race has the wish (or desire) to fully see, appreciate and embrace that knowledge without first having to filter it through secularist eyewear. We now know more fully the processes have gone on in the past to have brought us into being. I would also assert that the fact that we have a consciousness is by far one of the most remarkable aspects of being. 

Therefore to throw away my life at this point would be an admission that I have exceeded the limits of my imagination and intelligence and therefore I cannot see what greater efforts I can contribute to the world as a whole, even if only for myself.

After all, with the billions of years that has gone into the evolution of life on Earth, for me to finally come into being only to use it as an opportunity to kill myself, now that WOULD BE meaningless.

Permalink Reply by Linda on June 12, 2011 at 11:00am

I agree regarding your statement that there is no rational basis for choosing life over death. Have you read the book "Between the Dying and the Dead?" a bio on Jack Kevorkian's life; a man who dared to challange the "taboo against death" as he "dared to suggest that we might treat dying, suffering and suicide rationally." - Great read towards your quest :)

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Monica S. on June 12, 2011 at 1:56pm

I have some bad news: the only way to be completely rational at all times is to become either a robot or a vulcan. There are just times, because of the brain and all its wonders, where I am going to be irrational. I have made my peace with that.

I've tried the suicide route and it is not fun. The possibility that you could get it wrong and end up either a veggie in a hospital bed or not able to move from the first lumbar down is a bigger chance than actually dying. If you try pills, you have to go against your body's natural response, which is to vomit. If you try a gun, you really have to rig it just right. And because we are human, we won't be able to get it *right* the first time.

 

Then there is the possibility you actually do get it right. So now you have many family members and friends who are very angry at you. The work you were doing at your job? Someone else has to pick up that slack.

 

But if someone really cannot cope with the raw deal they are given, after all else has failed, the choice is ultimately theirs. I chose to live. Granted it took having my best friend and my cousin to commit suicide and having to go through all the emotions that go with that(survivor's guilt? you betcha) to make me realize I never want to inflict that type of damage on anyone I love.

 

It's not a taboo against death on my part, it's just a healthy respect of it. I've lost a lot of family and friends. And I cannot get them back. I will never see them in any great beyond.

 

Of course we all die, and when we die none of us will be completely "ready". To assume we will have everything just right is like sitting in front of a locked door that leads to a secret part of the house. We can assume all we want, but until we unlock and open the door we'll never know.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Linda on June 12, 2011 at 4:22pm

I respect your prespective and experience and do not argue the consequences associated what you describe however, imagine living in a society where doing "it right" was achievable and acceptable. The question society debates is "who's life is it really?"; many would say "God's", I would say "mine".The faith based idea that life should be lived without choice of death as it is "God's choice", is so ingrained into societies "horror" over the concept of suicide. I work in the healthcare industry and every day I am faced with visually seeing the great lengths we go to in attempt to achieve life over death. People are kept alive for weeks and months, non-responsive, dependent on humans and machines to maintain a beating heart....it's not how I every want to be treated...

   

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on June 12, 2011 at 4:31pm

Why not commit suicide....

I wondered if when my parents died, if I would't lose the last inhibition to killing myself.  Now when I think about ending it, there's my partner.  I wouldn't want to put any of them through that. 

I don't know, though.  There is a biological impulse to live, just like there's a biological impulse to eat, have sex, and breathe..  I think that's the real cause of continuing to live.  It's not rational, but neither are a lot of things we do.  Actually, dark chocolate, sex, and a good glass of wine ARE reasons to live.

So Andrew, I will just tell you don't do it because I said so.  I know you dont know who I am and don't care, but don't do it anyway.

Permalink Reply by Matthew Shafer-Skelton on June 12, 2011 at 4:59pm
rational depends on your goal really.
Permalink Reply by Napoleon Bonaparte on June 12, 2011 at 4:54pm

About 12 years ago I was suffering from cocaine addiction and depression. I often contemplated suicide.

I got professional help and was hospitalised for 2 months. I got better and life has been better ever since.

So things can get better and your mental health can improve.

Remember, you are going to die anyway so you may as well stick around to see what happens.

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on June 12, 2011 at 5:34pm

I'm doubtful that there is such a thing as being completely objective or that there is a rational answer to your question.

 

People often call suicide selfish, which I can understand, but it's also selfish to want a completely miserable person to stay alive just for other people.

 

I've been suicidal before. Strangely I am more afraid of nonexistence now that I've actually really thought about it.

Permalink Reply by Matthew Shafer-Skelton on June 12, 2011 at 5:51pm
i dont fear it so much as struggle to comprehend it. whenever i think about my death i inevitably move on to what happens after i die to my family and what not. but that could just be a social or biological issue. who knows. its not like you can do a survey of people who killed themselves.
Permalink Reply by paul babcock on June 13, 2011 at 6:15am
Unless one has kids that one is responsible for then I do in fact think what you do w your life is your business.With me, just knowing that I had that as an option has given me peace and comfort in times of stress.

We have ingrained instinctive drives not to do that to ourselves, but as rational people we have the option not lice by instinct alone.

All that being said, one never know what t future holds. Regardless of how one feels presently, there is every chance that situations and attitudes will change so that one will latter be glad to be alive. But if one offs oneself then they have deprived themselves of the opportunity to ever experience this.
Permalink Reply by John Camilli on June 14, 2011 at 11:56am
I have a different opinion of how we operate. I think that once we exist, we are all trapped by causality. That's an assumption because i can't prove that the universe only operates causally (and neither can anyone else), but I can't concieve of will or choice in a random universe either, so it seems to me that we are stuck either way. I think whether or not any of us ever commits suicide was already determined the moment existence came to be. It's a philosophy called fatalism, mechanism, and a few other names, and it's one of the most abhorred philosophies in history because it basically says we are all slaves, and that we are not responsible for anything we do. Most people think of fatalists as lazy asses trying to escape responsibility, but I would give abolutely anything to have come to a different conclusion about the nature of reality. It seems the most terrible of all possible ways to exist. Not only can I not control what I do with my living, but I cannot even control whether or not I continue to live. It's only my opinion of what's going on, but then everyone's idea of reality is only an opinion. I do wish I had a different one, but I think it is not in my control.

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