History
Upon sentencing deposed leaders to death in ancient times, they were given the option of committing suicide. This gave origin to the wrongful notion that suicide is an acceptable practice under certain circumstances.
Next, suicide became a method of retaliation. If one were unable to avenge himself in life, his ghost could punish
his enemy. Since the superstitious fear of ghosts was widely accepted, the threat of suicide was usually sufficient to bring
an enemy to terms.
Hunger strikes are a modern analogy to this method of retaliation.
Mores
Widowhood was greatly feared in ancient times. In some cultures, widows
were either killed or allowed to commit suicide on their husband’s graves. They
were supposed to accompany their spouses into spirit land.
If a widow continued to live, her life was one of continuous mourning and unbearable social restriction. She could not remarry.
When a child died, the mother, aunt, or grandmother was often strangled, so that an adult ghost might care for
the child ghost. Those who gave up their lives usually did so willingly.
Murder
Suicides are on the increase
in modern times. There have never been so many self-inflicted deaths. This indicates that no one has told these unfortunate
people about the significance of life. No one has warned them about the consequences of their action.
Suicide is the greatest crime
possible by an individual. It is premeditated murder. It is cosmic in scale. A human being can destroy the individuality
of creaturehood, the experience of synthesizing relationships with all creation.
Those who suppose that after
committing suicide they will return to the place from which they were sent are mistaken. The whirl of space carries them away. The Supreme will eventually find expression for the suicide’s life experience
in other creatures of the universes, but never as that particular person. The
unique personality of a nonascender returns to the Supreme as a drop of water returns to the sea.
Failures
Animals respond to the urges of life, but only man can attain the art of living. Animals make no inquiry into the purposes
of life. Animals do not worry or commit suicide.
Unlike animals, man may elect to live upon the high plane of intelligent art, even that of celestial joy and spiritual
ecstasy.
Suicide among men testifies that
they have emerged from the purely animal stage of existence. Self-inflicted death
testifies that the exploratory efforts of suicides failed to attain the artistic levels of mortal experience. These humans failed to recognize values, comprehend meanings, and the meaning of meanings, i.e., insight.
Lost Opportunity
A man cannot
waste his time and energy without penalty. The wasteful expenditure of strength and time is equivalent to cosmic suicide.
A surge
of spiritual assistance comes at the moment of normal death. Severance of the beneficial energy at death is harmful to all
men. Mortals are given life to perfect themselves. They must not deliberately sever the connection to life-bearing energy.
Planetary
Suicide
Just as
the rising rate of human unemployment is reaching dangerous proportions, so the idleness of nature must be noted. Dead sands
are replacing once flourishing vegetation. The creeping death of Earth's crust is not mismanagement. It is planetary suicide. Sands, glaciers, and landslides augur a dark future for man on
Earth.
It is impossible
to hurry the healing of nature, even if people turn to healthy directions of thought. It will require decades to restore Earth's
damaged crust to health.
Beneficent
measures require human cooperation. Today, every effort towards a restorative effort for Earth is met by derision. People
do not wish to think of the reality of the future.
The process
of wounding the earthly body is analogous to wounding the human body. When a
knife pierces the physical body of a man, it damages tissue and blood-circulation. The
death and decomposition of the local cells begin. However, vital energy prevails,
and a slow healing takes place. Precisely the same process takes place in the case of the Earth’s body. The healing
is very slow. Assisted suicide of the earthly body is the
prototype of self-wounding.
Sacrilege
Men hear
the morning prayer of the birds as they welcome the light. Birds offer their most rapturous expression before the grandeur
of light. Plants reach out towards the light.
At the sight
of a new day, people are more inclined to think about their stomachs when their soul should feel the grandeur of the Highest.
People also recite noble hymns without feeling. They are committing a sacrilege similar to suicide.
Nothing
can vindicate the self-generation of a poisonous attitude in a man. It is the
equivalent of murder and suicide. Even the most undeveloped people sense the approach of such a poison-bearer. Distress, anxiety
and fear enter accompany him. Many physical diseases break out because of the infiltration of peril.
Spiritual
achievement is created in full consciousness and responsibility. A higher devotion, an all-conquering love, teaches the merging
of higher qualities. The conscious realization of duty promotes the right use of energy. Express the desire to live
consciously. Man must realize what he is striving for, and remember that he has good deeds to perform and a mission to fulfill
here on Earth.
Undiminished
Experience
The Romans used crucifixion to provide a cruel and lingering punishment for criminals and rebels. (The victims often did not die for several days.)
There was
extensive sentiment against crucifixion in Jerusalem. Consequently, a society of Jewish women offered drugged wine to those hanging on the
cross to minimize their suffering.
Though extremely thirsty, when Jesus tasted their narcotized wine, he refused to drink it. He chose to retain
his human consciousness until the very end. He desired to meet death, even in this cruel and inhuman form, rather than diminish
the human experience.
Judas, the renegade apostle who sold his friendship for thirty pieces of silver to satisfy his craving for revenge,
rushed out and committed suicide. This was the final act in his drama of fleeing
from the realities of mortal existence.
