First, you're going to have to narrow down your definition of "encourage". Because that can mean several different things right there.

Now, if you're talking about the kind of encouragement that Occultist spoke about, where people encourage others to jump off a building. Or who would come up to a person out of the blue and say something like, "Hey, I got a great idea. Why don't you just kill yourself and then all your problems will be solved." Then yeah, I would be more inclined to agree with you. Unless of course it was meant as a tongue in cheek type jest. I actually know quite a few people who have a more morbid but harmless sense of humor (myself included, but it's also a coping mechanism).

But, you've also been quite the advocate for encouragement in any way, shape or form, to be unacceptable. What of the supportive kind of encouragement that understands the severity of the full situation? Is having great sympathy for the person who is suffering far more then you could ever possibly know, really such a horrible thing? People like to say that those who commit suicide are just so selfish for taking themselves away from their family and loved ones. But, I've also heard of cases where people would say things like, "That person was so selfish for not letting their suffering loved one go, by making them linger on in pain to the very end."

Actually, my mom did that with her third husband. He was dying a very slow painful death due to liver failure. But she refused to let him go. Even telling me that if he died before they actually got married, she would lose out on everything they had over the 15 years they were only living together. So it was actually more important for her, to have her piece of security, then it was to let him go when he wanted to go. So yes, that kind of situation happens as well.

So, what about those people who have to live with excruciating physical pain for the rest of their life? Would you tell that person to just deal with the pain, or take such strong and addicting medications to mask all the pain their body is in, just so they can linger on a few more weeks, months, years with their excruciating physical pain? Would you not sympathize with what they are going through at all, simply because you can not relate to what they are going through? Or because you don't want to lose them for what ever reason you may have?

And what of those who's lives are so completely incapacitated, that the quality of their life is so greatly diminished that they're not really even "living" life anymore, just merely surviving it? What of those who are in such great mental anguish over losing their dignity by being so compromised? What of those who have been so badly injured that they would not last very long? If someone begged you for mercy, to help end their suffering, would you tell them, "Sorry, you're just going to have to live the last days of your life in excruciating pain. Or in mental agony"? Sure, there is always the possibility that they might actually pull through, especially if they are able to get the proper medical help. But what if there's no way to get that medical help, such as if there was a terrible car or plane accident out in the middle of nowhere, with no way of getting help?

Granted, you're probably not going to run into that kind of situation on a message board. But it does seem like you've been talking about any and all situations where this topic could apply to life in general.

So, there are far more situations out there, then just encouraging a postpartum depressed new mother to kill herself. In fact, there are as many different situations concerning how a person dies, as there are people in the world. I'm not trying to cloud the issue for you. But, you did ask me to explain my position on the subject.

As for those who believe they have already achieved all the lessons they came to Earth to learn, I would have to question them about how they know they've already achieved all those goals. And then I would have to question them on whether or not they might still be here, because they need to help spread what they've learned onto someone else who could benefit from their gained wisdom. As I'm not quite convinced that life is only about the lessons we have to learn. But rather as some kind of combination of that, and teaching lessons to others, as well as lending a hand in service. One never really knows just how influential or inspirational they can really be to another person. But, if one takes their own life, simply because they are ready to die before their time is truly up, then everyone else whom that person was supposed to influence, inspire, or even provide a random act of kindness for, has suffered a great loss which may never be regained. And it is that aspect, that I would bring up to a spiritually evolved person, contemplating ending it all.

So, in taking that stance, questioning someone to the extent that they must think of all the pros and cons, in a way, is also a form of encouragement. It just depends on how that person reacts to it, by finalizing whether it truly is worth it or not.