Religious or Spiritual People

[StrawberryRed]

I dont know if I'm considered religious because I dont believe in hell but I do believe in reincarnation and in God. I believe in fate and the universe and that everyone is connected. Not tied to a specific religion though. With that it feels hard to reconcile that with being suicidal. Would God want me to be doing this? If my whole life is planned out, maybe that's just the last part. What type of plan is that though? For other religious/spiritual people how do u see it? I come from a Christian background with suicide as a sin. I can understand why it would be a sin and I feel conflicted often. Additionly, if everyone is connected who am i to willingly break that. If I am part of a bigger picture, why does this have to be my part? Does anybody else have this struggle?

 

[Ligottian]

Hard core atheist here,

 

[CantDoIt]

I have this struggle a little bit. What I sort of believe is the following:

I don't think "God" exists in the traditional sense, but I think there is a "source" of consciousness. I think the source of consciousness simulates reality in order to experience all things and to understand itself. I think that "souls" go "back" to the source of reality upon death, but that cessation of conscious experience isn't possible. I also believe that we are all parts of this source.
Rather, I think that upon death and subsequent reuniting with the source, that we'll gain a greater understanding of reality. Finally, I believe in reincarnation in the sense simply that I believe in a "frame-of-reference" shift. Essentially, we are dropping out of a game and understand our roles as "actors" in a giant play in which we (the source) is playing all parts. And then, we drop back into the game as a different character. I have no idea if these characters can be selected or if they're randomly generated.

I'm sort of generating this theory based on NDES, current theories, past-life memories, and unexplained phenomenon like premonition dreams.

NDEs as a temporary return to source, past-life memories as recollection of previous incarnations, premonition dreams as access to events that have already been recorded in an eternal database. (This database must exist if the source is using us to understand itself.) That also explain why certain people have access to all of the feelings and memories of other individuals in their lives during an NDE - essentially, they have been / are those individuals as well.

But I think there might be a karmic element to it somehow; that maybe you're "sorted" based on your previous life or some proximity to it. When considering suicide, I do worry about the idea that we may have to experience that suicide from the perspective of those that grieve. I don't think there is any judgment, but rather, you may feel remorseful for your actions.

 

[socrates]

My personal belief is kinda out there, but similar ideas were expressed by the Gnostics a term for a variation of early christianity.
So I think this world is a prison or maybe more of a farm if you prefer. I'm not sure if it always was this way, but I think souls get trapped here. They reincarnate multiple times and suffer over and over again. This world is run by very low vibrational beings that feed on negative emotions. When you start being negative more of these beings come to eat. This is why things seem to always get worse. Politicians, world leaders don't want to solve problems, they want to make them worse because of the benefits they get from the problems. So we can see this on multiple levels. "As is above, so is below"

Fortunately, I think there are things we can do to solve this problem. Well negativity attracts these beings I think positivity repels them. At least sometimes. Very few things in this world seem consistent, but in a general context being positive will result in better outcomes. I think when we die we have a choice we can go into the light which the evil beings will encourage us to do. Going into the light will cause us to reincarnate, or maybe put us into a false heaven that we will grow to hate and that will make us want to reincarnate. But we can also just leave. And then do what ever we want.

 

[ShatteredSerenity]

The Bible doesn't say suicide is a sin, that's people's interpretation. The claim is that murder is a sin, and suicide is murdering yourself, therefore suicide is a sin. I don't buy this argument, because in my view murder is taking someone's life against their will. If you kill someone who is begging to die I would call that euthanasia instead, and I don't see any reason that should be a sin.

I think the reality is that the sinfulness of an action falls along a continuum, not a binary true/false judgement. Suicide of an elderly person in great pain on the verge of death probably isn't sinful at all. Suicide of someone with severe mental illness in the midst of a crisis also doesn't seem sinful. Suicide of someone who is perfectly healthy, has children, and who is simply dissatisfied that they aren't wealthier and more beautiful seems very sinful. Other cases would fall somewhere along that spectrum.

If you feel everyone is connected, and you are physically and mentally able to contribute to making life better for people in some way, then I think the right thing to do may be to dedicate yourself to that. You might try getting into deep meditation to get closer to God and help work through your struggles and find a calling that resonates with you. You also might look into the Sikh religion, which believes in God along with reincarnation, for inspiration. Finding a purpose in life along with a community is where spirituality can really shine.

If you have the ability to contribute, but you have major struggles and decide to give up on life and commit suicide, then it may be sinful but that isn't the end of the story. Sins can be forgiven. God will also consider your other actions in life, so your entire life wouldn't be judged on a single action. It makes more sense to think of your life holistically, with death being just a piece of the bigger picture.

Personally I'm agnostic and I only believe in science and personal experience, not religion. I still believe there may be truth to religion, and regardless of the physical truth there are certainly valuable insights and practices in all religions. I think the best anyone can do is think carefully about their actions and be a good person to the best of their ability. If you stay true to that I think God or reincarnation will be good to you, even if you don't get everything right.