Didn't know what I wanted to do as a career, didn't try hard enough (mainly because I didn't know what I wanted to do. Wasted too much time. No possibility of a career now (too old) Invested money in bad investments. living n someone else's house as lodger. No friends within anything I would call travelling distance. No wife / partner. Little to no possibility of changing any of these things. yeah,proper loser. Can anyone relate to this ? The only reason I hang on for now is the remote possibility that something good might happen out of the blue / lottery win / whatever in the next few months, however i do think about suicide almost every day and how to do it and do try to imagine if there is or isn't an afterlife and if there is whether there will be some kind of reckoning for having killed myself. Don't get me wrong, i'm not feeling sorry for myself, it's 90% my own doing.
"Reckoning for having killed myself".
I understand this fear, but I feel like it's simply SI manifesting in a different way, rather than a legitimate concern; if there is a Creator out there who made us for a purpose, and said purpose is so sick and perverse that it involves us going through utter Hell to the point where we kill ourselves and are then punished purely for behaving in the way we were programmed to i.e. trying to escape suffering, then:
A) Aren't we kind of screwed anyway- doomed to be the playthings of some malevolent deity or force which sees us as puppets on which to inflict misery, then punish for not being able to bear it anymore?
B) If there is a God, and he is a "Merciful" god as detailed in the bible, how could punishing people who were so desperate to escape suffering that they annihilated themselves- often painfully- be merciful in any way, shape or form? This would make God more like a cruel torturor than a God of mercy.
How could a God who does this be worth believing in?
If our purpose is to perform good deeds, when why are the good deeds we managed whilst we were alive not good enough?
Are these somehow nullified just because we could not manage to do good deeds until our final breaths?
Surely a single good deed would be enough to say a life was well lived, as value was brought to a person in that moment?
To be blunt, I don't believe in the God as depicted in the Bible; who wants to believe in someone who sends people to burn for eternity in flames and grief?
Moreover, where is the logic in sending people to burn in flames when they're just living the life that was designed for them, with all the pressures and horrors that lay beyond their control? Where is the sense in condemning people for being what they are?
Free will is, after all, an illusion, a human construct designed to make sense of something as unfathomable as the universe and human beings.
To illustrate this idea, consider this: there are disorders of the brain that make people kill.
Take the Texas Tower Sniper for example. In his mid 20's he inexplicably developed an urge to kill people, and he did, requesting in a note to be examined after his death to try to find out why he behaved in the way he did. During the autopsy a tumor was found in his brain that was theorised to have contributed to his actions and inexplicable behaviour.
Moreover, he had used amphetamines previously in an attempt to cope with the grief of his parents' separation, which may have played a role.
Either way, it could reasonably be argued that he no longer had the capacity to remain an upstanding citizen- his brain was malfunctioning. Even he didn't know what on earth was wrong with him. Free will had nothing to do with it, similarly to an alzheimer's patient failing to remember people who they've known for years.
Free will is a concept from a time where we didn't understand science and mental illness was seen as the work of the Devil. Schizophrenics were possessed monsters. Murderers were simply evil, rather than the result of trauma or psychopathy. Etc.
To conclude, I'd like to add that, for me at least, the only good and fitting conclusion to Life is non-existence; I don't want to live forever, in any way, shape or form. Be it Heaven or Hell (both concepts which frankly are unrealistic and a bit ridiculous- how could good or bad exist solo, without the other to make them so?)
Non existence is the perfect (and logical) conclusion to Life. You're dead but you don't know you're dead. It's the only thing that works, and works perfectly. Not existing and therefore not having the ability to fathom your own non existence. Simple. Beautiful. Liberating.
Since Death is unknown, it gives us space to imagine whatever we choose. It's the one realm where we're not hemmed in by the constraints of reality!
So what is the point in imagining something that doesn't bring us bliss and peace? Wanna believe in heaven? Go for it! Wanna believe in nothing? Why Not!
I'm quite open to the idea of heaven, it's just the idea of eternity that gets me- the idea that I'll have to continue doing anything forever is nauseating...
But if it somehow remains novel and desirable the entire time, then I could be into that!
I've heard some say that death by suicide means being reborn again and again until one dies "naturally" (if there is such a thing). This seems to be a commonly held belief by many Buddhists.
I don't like this idea, so I choose not to entertain it. Why should I entertain an idea that doesn't bring me joy on a subject as open as Death, where I can believe whatever I want with impunity? That's just unnecessary torture, and life hands out more than enough of that as it is, hence this forum!
It was once said that Man's advantage over God is that god cannot die, but man can die by his own hand anytime he so chooses...
Any thoughts on anything I've said? Hope I didn't harp on too much. If so then I apologise!