1.
INTRODUCTION
Life
is difficult but it’s not impossible. In today’s world which is following a rat
race and being competitive, each person is concerned of one’s selfish needs and
forgets about the other people. In other words, a few people live only for
themselves. That’s what exactly I feel that suicide is being selfish and
killing oneself for one’s own reasons, forgetting about others. It also goes
against the creator who has given this life. Suicide is purposely terminating one’s
life which is like a disregard for this gift called life. Life is surely
difficult as nothing comes easy in life and people must realize that we have to
go on finding meaning in life. People end their life without knowing why they
are sent to this world. Suicide is the biggest defeat one can have in one’s
life because one ends life without completing ones mission.
2.
SACREDNESS OF LIFE
Human
life is sacred because from its
beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special
relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of
life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstances claim
for the right to destroy an innocent human being.[1]
Human life is the summit of the
entire creation of God. Man's life finds fulfillment only when he understands
the purpose of his life. When a child is born it is absolutely pure and sacred,
but as it grows up, it loses its human values due to its excessive desires and
association with worldly relations. Excessive desires lead to the decline of
human values. Humans are created to serve and not to meet ones selfish needs.[2]
If
we really believe in the sacred character of human life then it’s a serious
obligation on our part to better the lives of the million who live in
intolerable injustice and unfairness. We should wage an unremitting war against
all kinds of injustice and unfairness. We should show greater love and concern towards
the aging and the elderly and those who suffer from various physical and mental
disabilities. Equally we should show concern for the prisoners whose dignity as
human being is not always respected by penal justice.[3]
Furthermore,
if we believe in the sacred character of human life then we should be the first
to condemn capital punishment. Capital punishment, also known as the death
penalty, is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death
by the state as a punishment for a crime. Studies
show that crimes have not appreciably increased in those countries which have
abolished capital punishment. What might probably help in checking crime is the
diffusion of the idea that human life is so precious that it deserves to be
respected even in criminals.[4]
3. KINDS OF SUICIDE
3.1.
Ordinary Suicide.
Ordinary
suicide is knowingly taking of one’s own life. A general definition of ordinary
suicide includes cases of a person taking his own life and many more
complicated occurrences in which people help to bring about their own deaths
through indirect means. Many suicidal deaths are certified as natural and
accident etc., where the truth is concealed. This is done so because of the shame
attached to suicidal death where the family members have to face shame and
embarrassment. Sociologists have classified suicidal acts into three categories:
serious attempts, moderate and attempts that are not serious. E.g. Of serious
attempts: shooting a bullet in one’s head. Of moderate: a less sure method. Of
attempts that are not serious: taking sleeping pills.[5]
3.1.1Moral
Aspects of Ordinary Suicide.
The
ordinary suicide is immoral and can be readily argued. First, suicide goes
count to human’s innate desire to live. All beings have an innate tendency to
move towards perfection proper to itself. Like other beings humans too
naturally tends towards the continuance and perfection of their being. All
forms of life struggle to maintain their life and continuity. The fact that
humans exist down the ages is a proof that humans have the inclination to live.
If there weren’t any inclination to live, then the human race would have
disappeared from the face of this Earth.[6]
Why do you think humans take care of their self? Why is it humans go to a
doctor when they are sick? It’s basically that they love their life and want to
live it. But if we talk of suicide it seems contradictory to humans desire to
live.
Those
who commit suicide are taking a permanent leap into uncertainty and darkness.
Suicide is no road to a glorious after life, since that life is mysterious, and
we do not know whether this is the proper way to enter it. In the perspective
of the biblical thought, life is regarded as a divine gift given by God.
Therefore, life is holy as God is and not profaned. So killing of oneself
implies a rejection of Gods will where He gives us the right to live. No man
can create life only God can, so it is God who has absolute dominion over human’s
life and humans have a useful dominion over their life.[7]
The
saying ‘survival of the fittest’ which says that only the fit beings have the
right to exist, turns moral principles upside down. A person can in no way be
judged according to his/her physical health. We see people born with
deformities, have reached the heights of success. For example, Helen Keller and
Bethany Hamilton etc. We cannot classify humans into whose life is worth living
and whose life is better ended than continued. Humans are objects of God’s love.
Hence, no one can take upon oneself to kill oneself inorder to spare the pain
and misery. The fact that an action is productive of some good consequences
does not by itself make it good. Almost any action, no matter how immoral, has
some desirable consequences.[8] We
can see this even in the way Jesus went about. He reached out to the poor, sick,
lepers and those who were ill etc. This does not mean God does not reach out to
the rich He loves them equally. Well, humans are valuable to God as they are
precious to Him.
There
are types of suicide which, even if objectively wrong are not subjectively
blameworthy. For example, suppose a person commits suicide when he/she is
temporarily of unsound mind, either in the sense that he/she does not know that
what he/she is doing is wrong, or owing to a mental defect, he/she is
substantially unable to do what is right. Surely his/her suicide is an unsound
state of mind is which morally excused. This suicide is excused even if
objectively it is wrong. [9]
3.2. Sacrificial suicide.
Sacrificial suicide means taking
one’s life for a cause. Suicide by itself is morally wrong, but what can we say
about a sacrificial suicide? Sacrificial suicide may seem like a virtue but the
question we need to ask is where do we draw the line? Catholic Church stands
with two basic positions namely Rigid and Moderate position. According to the
moderate position self-killing for a proportionate noble cause is justifiable
by analogy with justifiable killing of another, as in self-defense and just war
etc. This position is far from approving of all self-sacrifice. In fact, a
sacrificial motive alone is not enough to give moral freedom to self-sacrifice.
In other words, the sheer fact of giving one’s life for other people is not
enough to justify the means. We need some safeguards. As a general rule, if we
justify self-sacrifice we must have a reason to believe, at first that what we
sacrifice must be necessary; secondly it must be the only way to serve the lives
of others persons. And thirdly, we must be effective; we must have very good
odds that giving our life will actually serve others life.[10]
3.3.
Cowardly suicide.
This
kind of suicide takes place because one lacks courage in difficult life
situation and fled from one’s normal responsibilities of life. No one is cowardly or courageous from
birth. Ones cowardly act may not be his/her
entire fault; it can be the consequences of his/her over protected parents, his/her
self was not adequately structured or it can also be his/her prevention from
acquiring a normal sense of self-confidence.[11]
3.4.
Neurotic suicide.
It’s
quite difficult to perfectly give a definition of the normal man. The
difference between the normal and the neurotic is more a question of degree
than of essence. We may define a normal person as a person lives in harmony
with his/her basic instincts where he/she does not follow his/her instincts
blindly. If man/women let himself be solely guided by instincts, he/she would
risk doing serious harm to the species of which he/she is a part. This is
because his/her instincts serve his individual selfish purposes. Not all
suicides are neurotic in the clinical sense of the world, but on the other hand
there are neurotics in whom the temptation to suicide is a basic symptom of
their condition. The principle characteristic of the neurotic suicide is its
apparent exemption from all objective motivation, or at least a flagrant
disproportion between conscious motivation and the seriousness of the act.[12]
3.5.
Romantic suicide.
Suicides
committed for love belong to the romantic category. They kill themselves
because a loved one does not share their feelings or because love’s path is
strewn with obstacles that apparently insurmountable or because they consider
love too exalted and too pure to be exposed to the inevitable profanations of
life. Romantic suicide could be also called metaphysical.[13]
4. AUTHORITY
4.1 Support from Scriptures.
In
the Bible, self-killing appears an event in both the Testaments, but there is
no definite teaching about it. All we are certain is that Scriptures does not
condemn all self- killing. There are ten instances some suspect and contestable
of suicide in Bible, nine in the old Testaments and one in the new Testaments.
Here are some examples:-
Abimelech
– not commented by the bible. (Judge 9:50)
Samson
– judged positively in the bible. (Judge 16:28)
Saul
and his armour bearer - not commented by the bible. (1 Sam 31:4)
Ahithophel
- not commented by the bible. (2 Sam 17:23)
Judas
Iscariot – in the Gospel according to Matthew it says that Judas committed
suicide and no comment is made. (Mt 27:5)[14]
4.2 Support from other Religions.
Jainism recognizes and commends
religious suicide. But suicide is not permitted for all; it is allowed to those
ascetics who have acquired the highest degree of perfection, and in essence it
contains in giving up begging and lying down in a duly chosen place to await
death by hunger and thirst. In Hinduism, there undoubtly pave the way for the
approval of suicide from religious motives. There is the conception that the
proper sacrifice is that of Human self; and that other forms of offering are
substitutes. The sannyasin, who has
acquired full insight, may enter upon the great journey, or chose death by
voluntary starvation, by drowning, by fire, or by a hero's fate. In general,
Judaism forbids suicide.[15]
4.3 Support from Philosophers.
Socrates as reported by Plato
says that Man was, as it were the property of the gods so that self-killing
would bring down the wrath of gods. Aristotle says that he does many acts for
the sale of his friends and his country, and if necessary dies for them.
Epicureans argued that it was better to kill oneself than to endure life if it
had become more painful than peaceful. Agnostics, Manichaeans taught that the
soul, which is real and burdened by the body in this life, so suicide might be
justified as laying down of the burden which is the body. Emmanuel Kant opposes
suicide in all circumstances. David Hume favoured suicide in certain
situations.[16]
4.4 Support from the Catholic
Church.
The Church says that
everyone is responsible for his/her life before God who has given it to him/her. God is the sovereign
Master of life. So we are obliged to preserve and honour life. We are stewards,
not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. Suicide contradicts the
natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his/her life. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly
breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to
which we continue to have obligations. If suicide is committed with the
intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the
gravity of scandal. Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of
hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one
committing suicide. We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons
who have taken their own lives. The Church prays for persons who have taken
their own lives.[17]
5. CONLUSION
Suicide
is intentionally bringing about one’s death. It’s not an easy thing to explain.
Suicide has been judged differently in different places, culture and
backgrounds etc. Suicide is mostly committed by people when they lose meaning
in life. The Catholic teaching teaches that the fifth commandment says ‘Thou
shall not kill’ and it’s a grave sin. This killing does not only mean murder
but also self-killing which is called suicide. Suicide goes against its Creator
and also the dignity of life. Mostly people who commit suicide are that they have
mental illness, depression and stress etc. Methods used to commit suicide are
intake of poison, tablets, blowing of one’s brain by a gun and overdose of
drugs etc. Authority also has a say on it where they give their own views. Also
the youth need to be educated properly of such a thing called suicide because
such a phase can come anytime in anyone’s life. The youngsters of today commit
suicide mostly because of broken love relationships. At the end I would like to
conclude that any person committing suicide must be understood properly of why
a person has done such a thing and then can a judgment be made.
[1] “Suicide” Catechism of the Catholic Church, (New
York: Doubleday, 1995) 602.
[2] “Sacredness of
human life,” http://www.cosmicharmony.com/Discrse/Sacred.htm accessed on
23/07/2016.
[3] Felix Podimattam,
Between life and death, (Delhi: Media
House, 2000)67.
[4] Podimattam, Between life and death, 68.
[5] Podimattam, Between life and death, 9-10.
[6] Podimattam, Between life and death, 29.
[7] Podimattam, Between life and death, 31.
[8] Podimattam, Between life and death, 34.
[10] Podimattam, Between life and death, 57.
[11] Ignace Lepp, Death and its Mysteries, (London:
Redwood Press Limited 1968) 72-73.
[12] Ignace Lepp, Death and its Mysteries, 75-76.
[13] Ignace Lepp, Death and its Mysteries, 84.
[14] Podimattam, Between life and death, 84-85.
[15] Podimattam, Between life and death, 93-94.
[16] Podimattam, Between life and death, 95-96.
[17] “Suicide” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 609.
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