Thread: Afterlife and suicide.

So, I just watched a special on tv about bullying and I wonder if anyone less was thinking the same thing as me.

So does the idea of an afterlife increase the rate of suicide? Think about it, bascally If you believe that you will go to heaven forever when you die, why not kill yourself if everything is bad with the exception of family. On the otherhand, if there is nothing when you die, who would kill themself to go to nothing? This is just a hypothesis by me from former experiance from crap in middle school. I don't think that I would have ever actually killed myself, but now that I am no longer Christian and don't really know if ther is an afterlife, I would never even think of suicide.

So what so you Gus think of this concept?

I think if you don't believe in an afterlife it would make it worse. Since you believe you are going to be gone forever when you die, and you know you are going to die anyway. All your experiences will simply disappear and it is like you never existed. So why not do it now instead of later? Plus its probably more depressing.

I don't really think that no belief afterlife would cause any increased aversion. Being dead is identical to being deeply unconscious, except that it's forever. We're all deeply unconscious for many hours everyday during the deeper phases of sleep.

It can be difficult to fathom exactly how NOTHING death is. There's no experience there at all, so there's nothing to fear. If one's life really sucks, that absolute ending of experience can look a whole lot better than the tangle of suffering one is caught up in.

Care about others can certainly hold one back though.

If you're of the opinion that Hell is reserved for suicides, then you probably won't do it.

There are lots of things to say about the subject, one study suggest religious people are more likely to abstain from committing suicide.

This video is by atheists about the subject. Skip ahead 7 or 8 mins to skip the announcements they do every episode.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...9668618567492#

*personal opinion to your questions*
Technically there is no "after" life. Life is a continuous stream that never stops flowing. Life as a human being may end, but life continues on. To think that the human life is the beginning of all life is just plain silly, to me anyways.

It is true that with some people, knowing that there is more to life than just within the physical meat ship we pilot, have a yearning to just "leave this cruel world behind". But it is very important to remember that balance is very important during the human life and we are not here for no reason. We came here to experience life as a separated being living in duality, pretending we are not part of the whole of existence. We must finish what we came here to do and leave when the time is right. Sometimes we leave too soon without learning the lessons we came here to learn and we will have to come back. We don't get just one life to live then poof, off to heaven we go. Oh no my friend, it just isn't that simple, or that boring. We are each individual, eternal sparks of the universe itself. We have much to do before residing in heaven. There is just too much for each individual soul to do in the physical universe before skipping to level 99 and saving the princess. This world is just one of an infinite amount.

Here is something to ponder;

Each night our body goes to sleep, and part of our true consciousness wakes up to dream. Our body may not be dead, but what we experience each night is very very close to what death is like for us. Though with a few differences. We are able to journey to the realm of imagination at will (depending on how experienced you are) and beyond, while in this life. We can travel to other worlds that exist in other planes while our body rests, in this life time. We don't HAVE to die to take more strides in our journey towards heaven. Shit, heaven isn't even far away. Each and every thing, living and non-living has the whole of heaven within it. If you look deep enough in anything, you will find that all matter is made up of light. How we have physical bodies and senses and emotions is just absolutely astounding.

Please forgive me, this may tempt some people into suicide, thinking that there is an escape from this world. It is an escape, there is no special place called Hell for those who kill themselves. Though, some people can become trapped in a personal "hell" of their own making and have troubles believing that they are creating it. The stream of life will flow forever and will not pool up in one spot for anyone to be trapped in forever in torment. Biblical hell is simply an idea created by those who seek to control others with fear. "Fear this, follow me, I show you the way, give me your money and your attention." However, some people cannot even handle their own nightmares, and if one is to kill themselves out of despair, they will hold that energy as they cross over and that energy will manifest fears in a realm where thoughts become things instantly. So if anyone wants to leave the body to get away from life, then I suggest developing their ability to soul travel.



*again, this is a personal opinion based upon my own personal experiences and journeys, take it or leave it and have a great day!*

Originally Posted by sheogorath

So, I just watched a special on tv about bullying and I wonder if anyone less was thinking the same thing as me.

So does the idea of an afterlife increase the rate of suicide?...

Not if you're Catholic.

I think that some people are tormented so greatly...by the time they have decided on suicide...there's nothing much left inside of them to really care what happens after they die. They just want the pain to stop...to cease existing...because it is too much for them to bare. Sure, some people commit suicide to "get on the spaceship" in the hopes that something wonderful will happen after they are dead...but I honestly think they are very much in the minority. Suicidal people basically come to the conclusion that whatever happens after death...be it Heaven, Hell, reincarnation, or nothing at all...it cannot be worse than what they are currently experiencing.

I wish they could come back and tell us what happens after you die, in terms of what it feels like or what happens after, or is death like an eternal slow motion death or something?

A place in Hell for people who take their life? That's not my belief; do we not have free will? But most of us enjoy life too much to take our life, and in that reason not many will take it to get to the ‘afterlife’. For those that do suicide, it's probably because they are depressed and don't care where they are going, just away from their life. So any notion of an afterlife, wether heavenly or an eternal hellfire, does not sway much towards or against suicide (unless He himself told some devout worshippers to do so ). As for me, I'm prob not gonna be outta here soon, but in the meantime I will not jump to conclusions about where I am going when I die.

I wonder if, upon death, we enter a sorta dreamlike place?

To be or not to be– that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep
No more – and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to – ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’ oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

Translation: nobody knows for sure what happens in the afterlife, and there's no guarantee it's any better there than it is here. That fear of the unknown is what keeps us hanging on, bearing all the trials and tortures of life. Even if you believe you're going to heaven, there will always be that tiny nagging doubt, plus that instinct to survive. Even if you manage to brainwash the doubt away, you'll likely be part of a religion that says something like God wants you to keep living so you can do his work. Or something like that.

I think most who believe in an afterlife in the christian sense are also taught that if you commit suicide you go to hell. So I would say no.

as someone else said though, if you believe there is nothing after death...that can look a lot better than your current suffering.

The idea of Hell is strongly against logic. Being burned by a red man with a pitchfork for all eternity just because you committed suicide? Sure man, go back to your gingerbread house. This gives birth to the idea of what defines a suicide. What if you die in accident caused by your own carelessness? Could that be a "subconscious suicide"? Maybe you subconsciously intended to kill yourself. Or what if you're forced to shoot yourself to save other people? Let's say some lunatic keeps you and your family hostage and tells you to commit suicide, or else the family dies. Is that kind of suicide selfish or noble? Would that send you to a place shaped by centuries of myths, known as Hell, if you did it in order to save other people. In this hypothesis, mr Lunatic lets the family go after the coerced suicide.

Yeah, random post is random.

Most people who commit suicide are in a totally wigged out state of mind. They are not, (very often,) rationally weighing all of the pros and cons and then making the decision that seems best. They might think through it all, but they aren't always going to go with logic. They are too screwed up. Often, they are chemically imbalanced and lack their maximum capacity for reasoning. I doubt it makes a massive difference, since suicide is such an irrational thing in the first place, most of the time. Rational reasoning doesn't apply as much.

Originally Posted by spockman

Most people who commit suicide are in a totally wigged out state of mind. They are not, (very often,) rationally weighing all of the pros and cons and then making the decision that seems best. They might think through it all, but they aren't always going to go with logic. They are too screwed up. Often, they are chemically imbalanced and lack their maximum capacity for reasoning. I doubt it makes a massive difference, since suicide is such an irrational thing in the first place, most of the time. Rational reasoning doesn't apply as much.

This. They get caught up in emotion and do something completely irrational. I really feel sorry for the kids that have committed suicide..

For me, no matter how much pain I'm in, either emotional or physical, I'll never even think about suicide. I'd rather be in total pain and agony than die, because honestly I don't know what will happen when I die. That's why you should make the best of the here and now, because at least you can acknowledge this reality is 'real' enough.

I hope my death is as painful as possible. No really. It'll help me keep a grip on 'reality' as I die, instead of slowly fading out of conciseness.

Originally Posted by Motumz

I hope my death is as painful as possible. No really. It'll help me keep a grip on 'reality' as I die, instead of slowly fading out of conciseness.

What's wrong with the fading thing? If I die, I want it to be either really fast or really peaceful. So, either throwing myself out of a plane without a chute, or going with a car in a garage. All after a nice, long, happy life, of course.

Originally Posted by Motumz

This. They get caught up in emotion and do something completely irrational. I really feel sorry for the kids that have committed suicide..

For me, no matter how much pain I'm in, either emotional or physical, I'll never even think about suicide. I'd rather be in total pain and agony than die, because honestly I don't know what will happen when I die. That's why you should make the best of the here and now, because at least you can acknowledge this reality is 'real' enough.

I hope my death is as painful as possible. No really. It'll help me keep a grip on 'reality' as I die, instead of slowly fading out of conciseness.

I do not presume to know how you feel, but it seems you are saying that a fear of death keeps you alive. When people commit suicide it is because of far greater pain than this. I think many people believe they have experienced great pain, but do not really understand ongoing agony to this degree; when your body and mind scream out for a life that you know you cannot have, and yet still the yearning for something better drives you insane; day in and day out. What keeps people going is the very small hope that one day their needs may be met; the trouble is also the great likelihood that they never will be, and the older one becomes the more clear this becomes.

When the cold reality of a situation that cannot be improved can no longer be ran away from by creating hope, no matter how small or absurd, one has already died. The trigger pull simply requires a bit a practice to override the chemical rush. My point really is that suicide can be a very logical choice.

I'd like to die getting shot by a criminal like a drug lord or something, and then bleed out whilst I take him and two of his cronies down. Because that would be epic. People who knew me would talk about that for the rest of their lives. So yeah.

suicide is something that is not easily understood. i dont know if there is an afterlife but i dont want to take that chance. i also think that people that kill themselves are past the point of being logical...should they be punished in hell forever? if there is a god i hope that he/she is more understanding than that. but ultimately i dont know and neither do you. all we know is that when loved ones die it hurts. it hurts bad. should we try to make sense of suicide? probably not. should we try to make sense of death? probably not while we are alive. enjoy being a conscience being while you can.

imo