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An e-mail conversation I had about
suicide
This is an e-mail exchange with
someone who wants to remain anonymous. I have asked for their permission to
reprint this, and they have agreed.
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 13:28:57 -0400
From: anonymous
To: meil@interlog.com
Subject: suicide
What do your teachings say of those who take their own life?
At 01:28 PM 5/6/97 -0400, you wrote:
>What do your teachings say of those who take their own life?
>
Suicide
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Thursday, May 08, 1997
In the "Spirit's Book" by Allan Kardec, it says about suicide:
Question: What is to be thought of those who resort to suicide in order
to escape from the troubles and disappointments of this world?
"They are weaklings who lack courage to bear the petty annoyances of
existence. God helps those who suffer bravely, but not those who have neither
strength nor courage. The tribulations of life are trials or expiation's; happy
are those who bear them without murmuring, for great will be their reward!
Unhappy, on the contrary, are those who expect their well-being from what they
impiously call 'chance' or 'luck'! Chance , or luck, to borrow their
expressions, may favour
them for a time; but only to make them feel, afterwards, and all the more
bitterly, the emptiness of those words."
Question: What are in general the effects of suicide on the state of the
spirit by whom it has been committed?
"The consequences of suicide vary in different cases, because the penalties
it entails are always proportioned to the circumstances which, in each case,
have led to its commission.
The one punishment which none can escape who have committed suicide is
disappointment; the rest of their punishment depends on circumstances. Some of
those who have killed themselves
expiate their fault at once; others do so in a new earthly life harder to bear
than the one whose course they have interrupted."
My thoughts on Suicide
How is suicide viewed in the grand scheme of things? Let's step back a moment
and think of life, of why we are incarnated here on Earth. First and foremost,
we are spirits enclosed in these physical shells we call bodies. Our spirit does
not die. Our bodies do. As spirits, we grow in
character, in personality, in spirituality. As time goes forward, we refine the
totality of our being; our soul. Coming down to Earth enables us to achieve
these goals because of the varying experiences we have here. Good and bad.
Especially the bad. How can we grow if all we
experience is one side of life, that of goodness? In order to appreciate good,
we must experience, to some degree, some form of "badness", those experiences
that bring pain to us. If the sun always shined, or if there we're no dark
clouds and always a blue sky, we would not appreciate it. How grateful we are
when the dark clouds move away and the sun shines with the blue skies!
In this school we call Earth, we gain these various experiences. Some souls
cannot cope with this and terminate their stay here. They are misguided if they
think that ending their time on Earth will resolve their problems. Far from it;
it makes their problems worse for they have to work this out, still, in another
lifetime. Only when the soul leaves the body will it realize this. And this is
when it starts to feel the disappointment at his failure to succeed in his
earthly purpose, for he would have to start all over again in a new life
experience.
An analogy of this would be of a child who goes to school in Kindergarten but
then hesitates or dislikes it. So he withdraws from school altogether. The child
sees his friends playing in school, doing the daily school activities like
painting, or playing with building blocks. He sees his friends growing up,
graduating, experience their first love, getting married and having a meaningful
career. And what would the child that hesitated be thinking now? Could he be
thinking of
all the opportunities that he lost? Could he be thinking of all the experiences
that he could have had, those which are not possible while in the spirit world,
that would make his spirit and soul grow? What can he feel now, but
disappointment?
***
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 09:37:26 -0400
From: anonymous
To: Sam Meilach <meil@gold.interlog.com>
Subject: Re: suicide
Thanks for responding to my questions on suicide.
Personally, I feel that there are cases where it's justified. If someone has
tried, really knocked themselves out, done all the right stuff, been a good
person, and life still keeps dumping on them - then they have the right to say
"enough!".
If the guys on the other side don't like it - they should've done a better job.
I feel that's the reason the other side condems suicide. They don't want to be
held accountable for their failures.
I feel this way because I've seen too many good people get too much dumped on
them. Finally the will to live snaps. There are the weaklings who can't take
life without a lot of hand-holding; to them a penalty should be attached for
suicide. But for the strong, who've held out, and finally their cup was full -
for them no penalty.
At 09:37 AM 5/19/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Personally, I feel that there are cases where it's justified. If
>someone has tried, really knocked themselves out, done all the right
>stuff, been a good person, and life still keeps dumping on them - then
>they have the right to say "enough!".
But have these persons asked for help from Spirit when all looks bleak? The
power of prayer is something that most people don't realize. Invisible agencies
are always ready to respond to a sincere cry for help.
>If the guys on the other side don't like it - they should've done a
>better job. I feel that's the reason the other side condems suicide.
>They don't want to be held accountable for their failures.
It's easy to blame someone else I suppose, but I believe in personal
responsibility. I would never blame my Spirit Guardians for my failures or God
for that matter. Sometimes we can't see the big picture and we see things in an
"earthy" way, if you know what I mean. Depending on the level of spiritual level
the person is at, then he will see any obstacles in a different and clearer
light. What may seen as hardship, are in actuality opportunities for
advancement. I do not believe that the load on such a persons shoulder would be
so great as to break him; as to force him to commit suicide. As I've said above,
our Spirit friends are always at our side ready to help. But sometimes they
can't help. They can't take away our pain because that is part of our
experiences while on earth.
I know you still don't agree with me, but given time and further exploring,
perhaps one day you will come closer to this truth.
God bless.
- Sam
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 17:48:21 -0400
From: anonymous
To: Sam Meilach <meil@gold.interlog.com>
Subject: Re: suicide
> At 09:37 AM 5/19/97 -0400, you wrote:
>
> >Personally, I feel that there are cases where it's justified. If
> >someone has tried, really knocked themselves out, done all the right
> >stuff, been a good person, and life still keeps dumping on them - then
> >they have the right to say "enough!".
>
> But have these persons asked for help from Spirit when all looks bleak? The
> power of prayer is something that most people don't realize. Invisible
> agencies are always ready to respond to a sincere cry for help.
>
When the "power of prayer" does not avert tragedy, pay the bills, ease the
aching heart - then to me and a lot of other people its just a bunch of hooey!
If prayer is to help - then let it send some guidance as to why the hard times
are here. I'm all for experiencing the dark in order to appreciate the light,
but too many times the dark times outweigh the good times. Prayer isn't really
much good - unless one knows at least a TINY bit of the whys and wherefores,
then this prayer stuff is just mumbo-jumbo. We are expected to place all our
trust, faith, in a vehicle which has not proven itself to us. Sort of like
injecting a new, unproven type of drug into one's system because the scientific
community said it's OK. Any one with a grain of common sense would say "uh uh".
> >If the guys on the other side don't like it - they should've done a
> >better job. I feel that's the reason the other side condems suicide.
> >They don't want to be held accountable for their failures.
>
> It's easy to blame someone else I suppose, but I believe in personal
> responsibilty. I would never blame my Spirit Guardians for my failures or
> God for that matter. Sometimes we can't see the big picture and we see
> things in an "earthy" way, if you know what I mean. Depending on the level
> of spiritual level the person is at, then he will see any obstacles in a
> different and clearer light. What may seen as hardship, are in actuality
> opportunities for advancement. I do not believe that the load on such a
> persons shoulder would be so great as to break him; as to force him to
> commit suicide. As I've said above, our Spirit friends are always at our
> side ready to help. But sometimes they can't help. They can't take away our
> pain because that is part of our experiences while on earth.
Not a matter of blaming someone else. As I said, when someone has done all the
right things - this includes taking "responsibility" - then the point is reached
where one has done all they can. I do believe that a "load on a person's
shoulder..." can "break" that person - again because
the other side has not done their part. When they should have been there
offering guidance - they weren't there. Who knows where they were. This talk of
"Spirit guardians" all boils down to just talk. There's too much bad for there
to be dependable spirit friends.
Frankly, you sound too much like " blame the victim". I don't know how you spend
your time, what your life was like - but too many times I have seen the good and
strong overburdened by life. The weaker and pettier people survive, even thrive.
If you are genuine - you have truly
suffered, then perhaps you have something to teach. However, I suspect you
really never suffered. Have you ever wondered where your next meal is coming
from? Have you known what it's like to fear for your life? Have you had to hold
it together for your entire family, when you are just a child? Did you go
without - for years? We're talking food, clothing, proper medical care,
entertainment. All there was for you was day-to-day survival. Your words leave
the impression that you weren't in any of those situations.
> I know you still don't agree with me, but given time and further exploring,
> perhaps one day you will come closer to this truth.
>
> God bless.
>
> - Sam
Thanks for the blessing - for what it's worth.
I don't think there's anything more I can say to you about this topic, except
that I'd like to send you a very small booklet by Paramahansa Yogananda called
"The Law of Success", which I think you may find beneficial.
If you like I can mail it to you.
- Sam
Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 09:03:03 -0400
From: anonymous
To: Sam Meilach <meil@gold.interlog.com>
Subject: Re: suicide
Yes -
I'd be very interested. Please enclose a bill with the book or email me a number
to call and order via 'phone - you're preference.
My address is:
xxxx
xxxx, U.S.A.
Thank you for your correspondence.
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