Is the survival instinct a sign we shouldn't ctb?

[wildflowers1996]

Maybe I just have an overactive imagination, or have been influenced a lot by religion, but I constantly worry about things like "maybe demons are trying to get you to kill yourself" "if you were meant to kill yourself you wouldn't fear it" "the devil is tricking you to make you go to hell".

I really do want to die. If only I could know for sure this is just my imagination but I'm scared. My logic goes "if there's a God He allows so much suffering in this world, so why not in the next?"

And maybe I deserve to suffer? I don't know if that's true or not. I don't know what's real.

 

[stuckpotato]

I'm pretty sure SI is just what it is, an instinct every animal on this earth has in order to grow a population. While it made sense for the most part of human history, overcoming illnesses etc., it really doesn't mean anything nowadays. It's just your brain telling you not to end yourself, as you technically can help to keep the human lifeline, just like women's bodies tell us to get pregnant every month. Made sense when humanity was developing, doesn't make sense now when our morals and personal decisions are worth more than collective goals. I hope I made sense, it did in my head at least. So much for the logical aspect
As for religion, I grew up learning that god lets de devil control the earth until 'the end' comes, that's why he 'allows' Suffering. Yet the bible also forbids quiet a lot of things that genuinely makes me happy. For the time I still believed in god, I always thought, he couldn't possibly be mad at me for doing things that make me happy. So therefore I can't believe in a god that would judge you for not being strong enough to go through all of this bullshit. Either he is good and loves you and respects your decisions to be happy, or he can't be that good of a god. That's how I used to think about god. Loved him, hated the bible.

 

[Ferris]

This is just my opinion. I think that judging by the spordic and unpredictable natures of suffering in our world, I don't believe there's a God. There is a lot of thing in our world you can't really explain with religion, like why is there so much inequality, suffering, pain, etc in our world but you can explain by simply suggesting a random world, without any 'divine interference'. I really don't know what I'm going on about, but I do truly believe that there isn't any afterlife and even if there is one you're just re-rolling a dice, a dice to decide if you will be fortunate or not. I believe that if someone kills themselves, they won't be there feeling the regret of killing themselves. Once it's done, its over, and you won't be in any pain, sadness, or mourning, and you'll just be nothing anymore, which I think is much better than even eternal happiness.

 

[Aergia]

There is no God (not one whose existence is pragmatically consequential, anyway). There's just Darwinism. You evolved neurobiologically just like you evolved physically—to stay alive. That's why SI exists. The concept of hell is a human invention—in fact, the concept of the Abrahamic hell was based on a physical place in Jerusalem—nothing otherworldly about it.

 

[anon7245]

You can interpret it however you like, most logical being that your brain (which is your driving force) does want to survive more than it wants to die. Deep down on a subconscious level you want to live but can't help the feelings of wanting to die even if you convince yourself it's the best option. It SI wasn't there, a lot more people would be dead but thankfully (or not depending who you ask) we are made to survive and endure trauma and emotional pain

 

[cloud99]

"There is no God". Maybe. Idk. But what about Demons and other malevolent enties? What are they up to? Tempting us, possessing us, tricking us? I ain't worried about God.

 

[Raindancer]

There is a God and I do believe oppression is a real thing. God absolutely does not want you to suffer in this life or the next. But until Jesus comes back and we are with Him, there will be suffering in this world. All I can recommend is to do your own research. No one can make up your mind for you. I do believe that SI is there to help us not act impulsively. You absolutely do NOT deserve to suffer, especially in the afterlife. That is why He has given us a way to avoid that.

 

[sugarb]

Biological signals can be manipulated and are often outright wrong/harmful (Is homicidal ideation a sign you should commit homicide? Should a totally unprepared 15 year old with baby fever have a kid? Etc). Suicide contradicts the intrinsic urge to survive and reproduce, so there's bound to be some alarms blaring.

 

[Not A Fan]

I see it not so much as a sign, but as an annoying obstacle to my most important goal. I rationally know there are billions of humans, death is final and inevitable, and that I am ill-suited to existence (really), it makes SI look like the dumbest most irrational thing possible.

I sure hope there's no afterlife though, that would be super disappointing to think, finally school's out forever... only to find yourself back in class again, and this time you can't leave. Immortality would be the ultimate curse, I can't even imagine..

 

[redeeming_butterfly]

For me, survival instinct is only a reflex to avoid pain. It has nothing to do with death itself. I want to die. Give me a painless death and SI would not exist regardless of how long the dying process takes.

 

[lizzywizzy09]

It's an evolutionary add on, nothing more.

 

[Darkover]

Self-preservation is essentially the process of an organism preventing itself from being harmed or killed and is considered a basic instinct in most organisms. Most call it a "survival instinct". Self-preservation is thought to be tied to an organism's reproductive fitness and can be more or less present according to perceived reproduction potential

 

[Forever Sleep]

But then- why does religion get us to repress other natural God given instincts like lust, gluttony- pretty much all 7 deadly sins? In some ways, God supposedly doesn't want us to follow our base instincts that we presumably were instilled with by them.

God plays weird, controlling, sadistic games to my mind. Why create a species that can rebel unless you want to be able to punish them? And if it was some outside influence that corrupted us- 'evil', then presumably either God isn't supreme- they can't repress that evil. Or- they are in collusion with it to weed out and punish the people God doesn't like.

If the Gods of our religions are in fact real, I suspect most of us have already deeply offended them. We've eaten the wrong food, spoken the wrong swear words, loved the wrong person. I feel like we're already screwed if God is real.

 

[2messdup]

I don't think so. I think SI probably comes from a more primitive part of the brain, probably the fight or flight bit, which we can't control, and the wish to die and the mental reasoning causing you to want to die come from the thinking part of the brain. So CTB is similar to doing something we're scared of, like a parachute jump for the first time. You have to overcome the primitive instinct, but it is possible for some people, but not all.

 

[lollblanca]

well I don't believe in god, but even if they exist, they will understand our choices; they should. Life is too long and challenging to give up pursuing peace just because of the slight chance that God might exist and disapprove of our choices.