If I commit suicide, will I experience an unpleasant afterlife?

[Cookiecarver]

Whenever I think of suicide, I think that if there's an afterlife it would be unpleasant for me because I committed suicide.

From Raymond Moody's book Life After Life:

Have you ever interviewed anyone who has had a near-death experience in association with a suicide attempt? If so, was the experience any different?


I do know of a few cases in which a suicide attempt was the cause of the apparent "death." These experiences were uniformly characterized as being unpleasant.


As one woman said, "If you leave here a tormented soul, you will be a tormented soul over there, too." In short, they report that the conflicts they had attempted suicide to escape were still present when they died, but with added complications. In their disembodied state they were unable to do anything about their problems, and they also had to view the unfortunate consequences which resulted from their acts.


A man who was despondent about the death of his wife shot himself, "died" as a result, and was resuscitated. He states:


I didn't go where [my wife] was. I went to an awful place…. I immediately saw the mistake I had made…. I thought, "I wish I hadn't done it."


Others who experienced this unpleasant "limbo" state have remarked that they had the feeling they would be there for a long time. This was their penalty for "breaking the rules" by trying to release themselves prematurely from what was, in effect, an "assignment"—to fulfill a certain purpose in life.


Such remarks coincide with what has been reported to me by several people who "died" of other causes but who said that, while they were in this state, it had been intimated to them that suicide was a very unfortunate act which attended with a severe penalty. One man who had a near-death experience after an accident said:


[While I was over there] I got the feeling that two things it was completely forbidden for me to do would be to kill myself or to kill another person…. If I were to commit suicide, I would be throwing God's gift back in his face…. Killing somebody else would be interfering with God's purpose for that individual.


Sentiments like these, which by now have been expressed to me in many separate accounts, are identical to those embodied in the most ancient theological and moral argument against suicide—one which occurs in various forms in the writings of thinkers as diverse as St. Thomas Aquinas, Locke, and Kant. A suicide, in Kant's view, is acting in opposition to the purposes of God and arrives on the other side viewed as a rebel against his creator. Aquinas argues that life is a gift from God and that it is God's prerogative, not man's, to take it back.


In discussing this, however, I do not pass a moral judgment against suicide. I only report what others who have been through this experience have told me. I am now in the process of preparing a second book on near-death experiences, in which this topic, along with others, will be dealt with at greater length.

From Raymond Moody's book Glimpses of Eternity, An investigation into shared death experiences:

Another member of the medical profession asked me the same thing. Ted was a physician's assistant and paramedic who worked at a hospital in the Deep South. One day the paramedics got a call to go to an address near the hospital where a man was reported to have attempted suicide.

When Ted and the other medics rushed into the house, they realized to their horror that the man who had attempted suicide was a psychologist at the hospital. Ted was well acquainted with the man and knew that his wife had recently left him. He had witnessed a sea change in how the doctor related to others. He had been talkative and friendly, but in recent months he had become withdrawn and somber.
And now this.
Ted knelt over the man and realized that he was dead. Still, he began to administer CPR, more out of instinct than out of hope. His attempts were to no avail, and within about ten minutes he gave up.
That was when he became aware of the man standing next to him. It was the psychologist in spirit form, and he was looking down at his own body with a look of amazement and regret on his face.
As far as Ted knows, none of the other medics saw the spirit being. As he stared up at the dead man's spirit, he had the sense that the man was curious about what would happen next.
And what happened wasn't pleasant.
The next-door neighbor had seen the ambulance and came over to see what was going on. When he saw that the psychologist was dead, he made a cutting remark. Ted doesn't remember what the man said, but he did recall the spirit's reaction. He said the spirit seemed to shrink, as though he was shriveling from the hurt caused by the comment.
"It was painful for me to watch," said Ted. "It was as though the life was sucked out of him, like he had been drained by what the neighbor said."
Ted didn't see the spirit after that, but had the sense that the comment by the neighbor made him lose interest in
his body and he moved on.

"What do you make of that?" asked Ted.
"I honestly don't know," I said. "I just don't have a clue."

 

[watchingthewheels]

No.

 

[Oblivion Access]

In all likelihood, afterlife is just a cope ancient people came up with because a) life sucked way worse than it does now and b) death followed by an eternity of nonexistence is scary. There is no rational reason to believe in an afterlife in the absence of convincing evidence for such an outlandish claim.

 

[FuneralCry]

I do not believe that there is an afterlife, there is no actual evidence of one existing. I think that when we lose consciousness that is it for us, we cease to exist. Death is the end of all the meaningless suffering that we go through in life, nothing can hurt us once we are dead. I look forward to non existence, I do not want to experience anything ever again.

 

[Shu]

Follow your intuition. Not others opinions. Look inside of yourself.

 

[jimmy7754]

No.

 

[hankbank3928]

How can they possibly know what's going on in the afterlife. Sounds like a bunch of bs to me.

 

[watchingthewheels]

How can they possibly know what's going on in the afterlife. Sounds like a bunch of bs to me.

"Look here, brother
Who you jivin' with that cosmik debris?
(What kind of a guru are you, anyway?)
-Frank Zappa, "Cosmik Debris"

 

[Pain In The Ass]

I don't remember a before-life, so I doubt there's an after-life, but what do I know?!

 

[Al_stargate]

I personally do believe in the afterlife because of some personal encounters with people. One person said that he can ascend out of his psychical body in meditation and visit the astral plane. Knew more people with spiritual experiences and think it's likely true. Is suicide a sin? Probably. I don't want to insult God but I'm in a great deal of pain that I didn't deserve.
edit: Also I heard somewhere that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it just changes shapes. So if you look at it from this perspective, consciousness will not cease but continue in another way or form.

 

[Eternal Oblivion]

Truth is that nobody knows and nobody could. If you believe there is nothing it would be as valid as beliving there is something else.. there is really but one way to find out.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

Whenever I think of suicide, I think that if there's an afterlife it would be unpleasant for me because I committed suicide.

From Raymond Moody's book Life After Life:



From Raymond Moody's book Glimpses of Eternity, An investigation into shared death experiences:

No .I believe Death is eternal non-existence , no afterlife , no reincarnation , nothing , no pain no suffering ever again. Nonexistence is the most wonderful thing to me no pain ever again. I'm tired after only a few decades already of this world and this life

 

[watchingthewheels]

Truth is that nobody knows and nobody could. If you believe there is nothing it would be as valid as beliving there is something else.. there is really but one way to find out.

Darn. All the countless other threads on this topic asking this question were so inconclusive; I thought that this thread just might be the one...silly me. Oh, well; maybe the next one will finally answer it, once and for all...

(And maybe Lucy will let Charlie Brown kick the football, this time...)

;)

 

[Leiden]

Nobody knows what is in the afterlife. Each have what we believe to be there, but we couldn't ever know till we get there.

What I would like is for there to be nothing at all. I don't want to live for eternity somewhere good or bad. I just want it to be like before I was born...nothing, no existence at all. Just game over. I don't believe that is the case though ):

 

[OldDrummer]

I can only talk about my own subjective beliefs, which are primarily Buddhist and atheist.

It's all about good intention. If you're in long-term suffering, then you have the right.

If you're doing it impulsively or to deliberately hurt others, then it can have a really negative karmic impact.

It's important to be considerate of the effect that your ctb'ing will have on those close to you and to organise your affairs as best you can in advance.

If you plan on writing notes, then reassure those to whom you address them that it was never their fault and nothing they could have done, nor didn't do, could have prevented your course of action.

In my own case, I've given myself a three month window to commit to this course and make all the necessary preparations.

With all that in mind, if you still want commit to a ctb course of action, then try and release all emotional attachments to physical things here in this life. This can really trap you and stop you from going forward.

At the end of the day, who really knows what will happen? But what I do know is that if you go into a shop and act like an as*hole, you will be treated like an as*hole. But if you are kind and courteous to others then at least you can expect to receive the same treatment.

As below, so above.

Wishing you the very best.

 

[AfterLife]

I don't know if death really ends.
Then I don't know what happened before I was born.

Apparently they were born because they reached the egg while competing with a lot of sperm, but the question is, is it possible to become one of the billions and win?

No matter how much desire an individual has to be born, it will be difficult unless he has great luck and skill.

Even if religion is full of lies or reincarnation is just a refuge for those who are now full of dissatisfaction and disbelief, whether it is the first born without any experience without knowing the very concept of a life that will give you the feeling that you are alive now, or if there is a precedent, you do not remember. I do not know.

Aren't so-called people with special talents different from ordinary people, experienced people, who possess all the memories they had before they were born?

It's like being dragged away by conscription.

I'd rather there be no afterlife or reincarnation, I want to end this cycle.

 

[Soapie]

No one knows for sure. I'm sorry. I don't think there's an afterlife but to be totally honest with you I could be totally wrong. There's just no way to know for sure unfortunately.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

When we die, we also stop living.

 

[Rational man]

There is no God. Only the cosmic god lives in us and outside of us..We are made of god by way of cosmic elements and we return to dust afterlife. Religion is faith and it attempts to control us , quoting heaven or hell ( good deeds and bad deeds ). If we are judged, which authority decides and implements the decision?. Its absurd. There is no bearded bastard waiting to judge us.

 

[NoLightRemains]

I'm hoping for non-existence personally. A fear of hell was instilled in me due to my Christian upbringing, but I have viewed that as nothing more than a spooky story used to control people for a long time.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

If there is a God or Gods and they hate suicide so much then the burden is on them to make life more bearable for everyone to not want to commit suicide in the first place.

If the God(s)' hands are tied then he would be stupid not to realize that punishing someone for being unable to cope with living is incredibly unfair. Of course there are no guarantees or promises that God has to be fair. For all we know God could just be a petty asshole but then if that's true then it's all pointless anyway.

 

[Lost Magic]

Well since you brought up Dr Raymond Moody's best selling book ( Life after Life a qualitative study in which Moody interviewed 150 people who had undergone near-death experiences). I thought I should share this short video with everybody about what his views are on suicide. I think you will find his take on it, interesting.

 

[GreenTree]

No one knows what happens when we die. It's pointless debating it.

 

[eyeroller]

Well since you brought up Dr Raymond Moody's best selling book ( Life after Life a qualitative study in which Moody interviewed 150 people who had undergone near-death experiences). I thought I should share this short video with everybody about what his views are on suicide. I think you will find his take on it, interesting.

This was very soothing to watch.

I do belief in an afterlife and its important for me to spiritually prepare for ctb as much as physically. This vid helped a lot

 

[Messgram]

If there is an afterlife, I believe it would be a completely random event and not based on your actions as many people think, for many reasons:

- Free will is an illusion. We are products of the environment, our genes and a chain of events that we have no control over.
- Morality is subjective. Everything you believe to be good or evil is nothing more than social constructions imposed on you. Outside your mind, there is no "good" or "evil", everything is just opinions, so it makes no sense for us to be rewarded or punished spiritually based on other people's opinion about what is right or wrong.
- No one is good. People in general are hypocritical and selfish, doing "good" always with some interest in mind. No one is really deserving of any divine reward.
- You didn't ask to be born, much less in this horrible and corrupt world, so you don't owe this life anything and it wouldn't be fair to be punished or rewarded because of an existence you didn't choose to have.

 

[lonerclown666]

I wish the void is peaceful but we will no longer be aware

 

[MyStateKilledMe]

Whatever happens in the afterlife---that's IF it even exists---it will never be as unpleasant as the sorry excuse for a life you have now.