Is It Possible to Commit Soul-Suicide?

[Vietislav]

When I say 'Is it possible to commit soul-suicide?', I don't mean it metaphorically in the sense of taking a wrong turning in life and actively heading off in the opposite direction from the Light. I mean it literally.

That's to say, is it possible to opt out of our apparently never-ending spirit journey altogether?

Whether we view the whole process of our long-term spiritual development as (a) the encountering of a series of challenges which we've agreed to undergo, (b) some sort of experiment which has been inflicted on us or (c) a naturally-occurring non-physical variant of the concept of evolution, the fact remains that life on the earth plane appears to become more hard and to involve more suffering the more times we return here, which supposedly is the key to Learning and to Spiritual Growth. Hardly surprisingly, one ends up asking oneself whether the apparent requirement for us to show willing and to embrace everything that's being thrown at us with philosophical equanimity isn't actually a requirement too far.

We're supposed to accept that our periods of earthly life, no matter how miserable, painful and long-drawn-out they may seem to us at the time, are actually just very brief interludes in the grand scheme of things - and that when each earthly life-cycle ends and we find ourselves back in spirit, everything suddenly makes sense and we're overjoyed to be back in the bosom of the system which itself causes us to undergo our increasingly-challenging stints on the earth plane. There seems to be an assumption that when we return to spirit we immediately regain our knowledge and understanding of the system and are therefore able to realise that our most recent spell on the earth plane, no matter how awful it was, was in fact all in a good cause.

In earthly life, many people take a dim view of suicide and can be hurtfully judgemental on the subject, whether it be out of sheer sneering meanness or out of religious bigotry of some description. But at the same time, those people can generally be made to understand that if, for instance, a person has endured decades of physical pain, suicide could be viewed as not only a constructive and highly logical solution to that situation but also as a bold and courageous decision (provided that no vulnerable dependants are left high and dry by the death of that person). We also understand that in our earthly lives we all possess free will and are at liberty to make whatever life choices we please.

Whether or not we cite the 'as above, so below' principle (or even believe in it), I have to wonder whether any method exists of actually baling out of the entire system - by which I don't mean refusing to return to the earth plane when the time comes for one's next stint, but rather putting one's hand up and requesting to be terminated altogether, so that one at long last ceases to exist entirely.

Everyone who believes in an afterlife seems to imagine that it'll somehow be a major improvement on this current plane of existence of ours - but if how the system functions is to keep on sending us back for increasingly soul-destroying stints of life on the earth plane, allegedly for our betterment, it stands to reason that there'd be no shortage of folk who'd understandably get fed up with the whole thing and decide that they want out. I must say that I find rather babyish and naïve the idea that each time we return to spirit, we're so filled with joy to be in that wonderfully restorative realm that we spontaneously cast aside all our memories of our most recent miserable incarnations on the grounds that they're mere chaff in the grand scheme of things. Personally I would want answers - and merely being told that my life of pain and suffering did me the power of good wouldn't be enough.

Presumably one's freedom to make one's own life-decisions holds good in the spirit plane. If one decided (after a wretched spell on earth) that one had had a gutful and consequently no longer wanted any part of the system - a system that would inevitably send one back again for another dreadful time in due course - would one be allowed the liberty to choose to cease to exist altogether and be granted genuinely everlasting peace?

The idea of my ever having to return to this dreadful life quite appals me - as does the idea of my being expected to jump for joy on returning to the spirit realm, when the spirit realm itself would appear to be the HQ of the whole darn system. It's unlikely that I'd commit suicide in this present life, but I've a feeling I'd certainly want to do it in the next world rather than (a) risk being sent back here again or (b) be required to abandon all reason and pretend that I think the whole system is deeply wonderful.

If the truth is that we're placed on the earth plane to Learn, then frankly I've now had my fill of learning, even if the system thinks I still exhibit room for improvement. If, when I pass to spirit, it's made clear to me that there are still many, many lives for me to live, I just don't want to know about it. So should I assume that my own guaranteed spiritual freedom of choice will vouchsafe me the freedom to commit soul-suicide if I should choose to, thereby allowing me to avail myself of the end to all suffering which can only come with totally ceasing to exist?

(FOOTNOTE: Please understand that I'm in no way an embittered person. I'm just a person who knows when things have gone far enough. Besides, the idea of any sort of eternal life has no appeal to me, whether it be living forever as a human being or just existing forever in spirit. Everything needs to come to an end eventually.)

[shoni7510]

I wonder how you will commit the soul-suicide because the soul is eternal and non-physical. Whatever you are dealing with in this life came to you by your own design even though you do not remember.

[knightofalbion]

The answer is no.

Have you considered counselling? Maybe you should if you are feeling at such a low ebb.

Life has its trials and tribulations, its sorrows and disappointments, and monotony - but also its joys!, its love and its happiness!
Why not strive to be more positive and proactive, to make a better life for yourself - and make something good, something beautiful of your life ...

[Armadodecadron]

Ahh, a kindred spirit. Rather than address each point you've made, I'd like to talk about the central theme they follow - a sincere doubt in the usefulness of human suffering as part of a scheme that somehow teaches or improves supposedly immortal beings.

To be completely honest with you, and anyone reading this, it is my own sincerely held belief that the system and the absurdities of it that you've described are the result of sloppy writing.

This whole deal is an attempt to explain away the profound tragedy of the human condition - that, by our own standards, we ought to be kind, that we ought to dwell in peace and plenty, that our consciousness ought to be one with the cosmos, that we ought to continually learn and either to last forever, or to be destroyed with a sense of completion and purpose - but we are not and accomplish none of these things on a a global scale. Cruelty and greed still run the world, and nobody really has anything to show for it, spiritually.

The idea that we are wonderful, unique spiritual beings with boundless potential, but that by our own choices, singularly and collectively we turned out like this - the knowledge is almost too awful to bear. So people invent reasons that the situation is OK.

The contexts we give the human condition to rob it of its tragedy can take many forms, from the assumption that we're somehow improved by cruelty, to the idea that death is some great cosmic sieve that will filter out the bits of us we don't like, while somehow retaining the attributes we think deserve to be eternal (and there is seldom any absolute agreement as to what the specifics of this are even among believers of the concept); all of the explanations you'll come across obey one obvious motivation: to excuse the supreme tragedy and rob us of a personal and communal responsibility to fight to our last ounce of our blood for change.

Given this context, consider that perhaps the reason the system doesn't "work" for you anymore is because you have noted severe inconsistencies and implausibilities in the whole arrangement.

[SaraTherase]

I run on what I feel, its nor right nor wrong just a feeling.

Choosing to no longer be a soul, well since the source of all that created us is everywhere and in everything I feel perhaps after some extensive evaluation and discussion one could possibly entertain the idea of becoming one with source and choosing to no longer reincarnate. However once one is in spirit I feel there is no pressure or time frame which one must reincarnate within meaning that one can live in spirit for however long they like. Although it's hard to imagine souls eventually get bored in spirit and what to experience more of what the spirit world has to offer so they come back here to help fellow souls, enjoy the benefits that having a physical body offers etc etc. I feel that in terms of significance the emphasis and impact that our experiences have on us in the here and the now are not as soul destroying or hard as our ego/mind leads us to believe. Its like when a woman has a baby, when in labour she feels though she could die because the pain is so severe, the pain can generate fear and anxiety but once the moment its over all is forgotten, the pain she felt gone in an instance.

Your feelings in the first paragraph are the reason many commit suicide. Some do not want to do life, they don't like the structure, the process, the system and its understandable.

In response to your second paragraph people feel they need to have faith or believe in something, its partly a survival mechanism. Say you have a dream, its bad, felt real at the time then you wake up, remember it and question it for maybe a moment, then you forget it cos you have a life and things to do. Maybe life is the dream and death is the waking up. I think if everyone thought this life was pointless and death was like everything being switched off and no longer existing the suicide rate would be much higher.

In third paragraph you discuss suicide. Some people say it is cowardly because one simply cannot hack life and therefor choose to give up cause they find it too tough or hard. Some people say it takes a lot of guts to commit suicide and that in order to have the courage to do so one must truly be so pained by living that should no longer have to live. Living is a personal choice. Many live without ever really living and many die without having had the chance to really live.

I feel you already have your hand up so to speak, unless your perspective changes I'm sure when your time comes you will enquire.

Everyone wants answers. Without a thought there is no question, without a question there is no answer without an answer there is no thought. I feel your frustration and would like to talk about what is going on in your waking life that is triggering these feelings..

I feel the reason people choose to reside in spirit for so long is due to genuine everlasting peace and love of course. The thing is love and peace is all there within us but fear and negativity is also present as well, for some reason we let fear and negativity preside over what love and peace is there, making it seem as though it dosent exist within us at all.

No on expects you to jump for joy and you will get your moment to discuss it when you get there if this is a feeling you plan on hanging on to till you transition yourself. You are well entitled to have your own opinions, thoughts and feelings as we all are but I think since your planning on living you should try an make the best of it or at least the good bits, you never know life might just surprise you.

I think you should worry about the present, the now, the life you are currently living, not whether you are going to get to exit out of soul existence. I am fairly certain all of your concerns will be addressed when it is your time to cross over.

P.S - I actually know how you feel and I'm sorry your feeling it

[metal68]

You see, for me, personally I find the idea of non existence utterly terrifying. I shall bump sn old thread of mine back for the OP to look at...

[Govind]

No it is not possible to commit soul suicide because soul is immortal, it is not a physical body.

[Howla Dark]

No, you can't. You might be talking of a side of the soul going into a "sleep".

[Starman]

This thing we call “soul” is actually indefinable; the word soul is a label, a handle which we humans use to grasp
that which is beyond grasping. So when you talk about “soul suicide” you may be talking about your, or others who
accept the term “soul,’ a definition of something which is indefinable. Words are symbols which represent fleeting
illusions in our perception.

When we talk about non-existence we are actually talking about the death of awareness. We are able to acknowledge
our existence because we are self aware, that is aware of us existing in whatever fashion, but if we lose self awareness;
if we do not know that we exist that may be similar to nonexistence. To sleep and not dream nor know that you are sleeping.

Nonexistence does not necessarily mean that you do not exist; rather it may also mean that you do not know that you exist.
Awareness can be destroyed but this is not a destruction of what we might call “soul.” We live and have our being in our own
awareness to whatever degree we are aware; the energy which we are can not be created nor destroyed but existence itself is
dependent on cognition or consciousness, which key ingredient is awareness. To exist without any consciousness whatsoever
on every level is akin to nonexistence.

[MARDAV70]

I seriously doubt that soul-suicide is possible. We have to realize that each of us has ego we have to deal with...and that ego can be pretty cunning. It's like trying to see clearly through a very old glass window...all distorted by centuries of the glass surfaces bubbles, bumps. dips and other affecting agents that have developed over a great period of time.

So, I doubt anyone can answer that question with a definite yes or no.
Although, personally...I feel the answer is most likely no.