I think there may be some truth in this. Why do so many people want to die? I have a close friend who committed suicide and one of my other friends has two recent cases of his friends committing suicide. I too battle with staying alive on a daily basis. Why? Sure we’ve all got our own reasons and problems and we all see the world differently, but in the end, it’s all the same because we would rather die than be here.Â
I don’t think this is about finding a purpose and finding what makes you happy, certainly not in serious cases. I am a believer (and I have been really studying this of late), that a person can exhaust all avenues of trying to enjoy this life, or even live in some personal comfort. I agree that those who are just starting off on a suicidal thought path, can be brought back and can be given hope. But in the main, they will return to that path at some later stage. And then what happens when all hope has been exhausted? What can you really offer a person that has tried everything you suggest and therefore knows that you are wrong in what you are advising? That in itself can make them feel even worse.
In reality, there are a lot of people who do choose and want to choose death over life. I don’t believe that it is as simple as depression, or laziness or the lack of being able to help themselves or the lack of being able to see the joy in living. Most of these people can appreciate that and still not want any of it. In the main it’s not different to something as simple as some people wanting to eat meat and others not wanting, or some people choosing to drink and others not wanting to.Â
So what can society offer these people? Seems to be not a lot really, lets explore it; They either get people who are (even though they say they are not) in a better position than they are, telling them to find some joy or some purpose to their lives. or they get given a medication that may dispose of those feelings, but also may dispose of their other feelings too. Or they can live in a secure hospital where they are forced to live by even stricter rules and being treated by someone who has no doubt never experienced what they are feeling.
These people (myself included) want to just opt out of society in the main. They don’t always want to die, they just don’t want to live like this. Yet there is no option that I know of that allows people to ‘opt out’ even if it is killing them. There are no ‘safe houses.’  The only way to do it would be to live like a gypo or a tramp really, and that is also not what they want – why should that degradation  be the only alternative?Â
This is what I would like; Â I would like to give up. I want to be able to have the choice to stay in bed my whole life and not have someone inject me with drugs to make me function how they think I should function. If I chose to spend my whole life just waiting for the end to come from the comfort of my sofa, waiting for doomsday, or my death, than that should be my choice.Â
I suspect that the main reason people choose suicide as they see it as the only way out. They really just want to ‘opt out’ but they can’t because they must go to work, they must pay the bills, they have to contribute to society – but they don’t like society and they have got nothing out of society but pain so why should they be forced to contribute to that?
I don’t see a solution. But that’s because we live in society and have rules – our lives are not our own to make any real choices. Life is killing people. But ultimately it doesn’t care that it kills the weak ones who are not willing to contribute to it, why should they? Ultimately life is worthless – unless you tow the line.
Does anyone have and real suggestions as to how to keep those people, who do not want to participate in society, alive? And alive with some decency and some freedom?
8 comments
I love this post, thank you so much for saying these things x
“Life” is killing people because they essentially let OTHER people (or person), or OTHER person’s *system* to control them, to bind them.
although “Life” doesn’t necessarily have to be THAT way!
example is: you’re free to leave the *system* anytime you want, and do what you really want, and go freely explore another POSSIBILITIES that exist in this vast world.
But what’s stopping you?
Exactly,..it’s FEAR.
There’s an excellent post here once that said about the Holocaust thing,
you know, there are a lot of writings that suggested that the perpetrators (German NAZI soldiers) are actually FAR outnumbered than the amount of prisoners, the ‘victims’, that these people, if they WANT, can actually choose to stand up together, and kill their perpetrators, and thus break-free from the camps.
But WHY they didn’t do that?…
it’s because of FEAR. fear of what? fear of DYING? but isn’t it much better than being tortured, or watching their fellow human beings got tortured daily, everyday, until death?? isn’t that much MORE inhumane, than say, just go using their FREEWILL to just attack the inhumane perpetrators, and if they’ll die, then so be it, at least it’s much better than living in a ‘Hell’ everyday ??
The more I think about this, the more I’ve realized of how the man Splinter said is very true here http://suicideproject.org/2010/08/lets-face-it-were-all-evil-in-some-way/
it’s really all about FEAR.
and this FEAR is, ironically, all really in our MIND.
and until we CHANGE our mind, and only then, we will see that we can truly break-FREE from the *system*.
and that we are FREE to live apart from those ‘evil’ people, that we DON’T have to be DEPENDENT on them!
that we can actually go CREATE the change we wants, and believe this, to connect with so MANY like-minded individuals out there.
There are actually more Good people than Bad people in this world.
it’s just unfortunately & sadly, these Good people are living their everyday lives in FEAR and PASSIVE state, than those FEW Bad people!
and THAT’S what makes these Good people feeling ‘entrapped’, feeling like a SLAVE everyday, not being themselves,
and at the end, can’t stand the *pressure*,….and choose to END their life, commit suicide,………………………while the POSSIBILITIES for another kind of Life is actually OUT there, if only they’re willing to change their MIND. yes, as simple as just changing their MIND, free from FEAR, but abound in LOVE.
“Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.” ~ Matrix
Niki: I absolutely do not agree that only ‘fear’ is stopping you from exploring other possibilities of life. The ‘system’ that we are all under is stopping us from exploring anything other than the greater good of the ‘system’ ‘the machine’.
Yes, I agree that fear is a tool in us being controlled and it works very well (even in religions) (in fact, in EVERY aspect of this life), but even if you are brave enough and intelligent enough to see that and to overcome that fear, your life will be doomed (you will end up severely depressed or deranged) because there is no way out of the system. You can try but you will be vilified. You will end up in prison, or in an asylum, or put on drugs because you must be’ unwell’ if you don’t see things the way the system has taught us to see things.
I think you have an excellent point Niki, but you are only half way to seeing it clearly, you have seen it but you have concluded it incorrectly.
The only way to be free, to free mankind from fear and from the troubles that suffocate us, is to be rid of the system. That sounds violent doesn’t it? No, it can be very peaceful; but it takes a transitional period of unrest, uncertainty and discomfort. All it takes is for mankind to cease being a part of this big ‘machine’ the more of us that do that, the less powerful the machine becomes. Cause lets face it anyway, the only ones who really gain anything from this big machine are those at the very top of it, everyone else is just a tool.
Talk is cheap, ‘understanding’ is cheap, but then people think action is hard. I say not so! you can stop this by inaction! But most people don’t see it. They are deluded by the promise of what’s at the end, but then when they get to the end, they are too knackered and too old to put up a fight that they have been lied to their entire lives! Good system if you ask me, very clever.
Another great post, lilah.
Btw, I actually am now in the ‘inaction’ period,
I have been labeled as ‘rebellious’ by my parents, my relatives, my boss, etc.
but you are so right when you said that it can be very hard to be *totally* out from the ‘system’.
I guess I am still lucky in that I am still paid (I work, or rather, ‘trapped’ in a family business currently), even though I pretty much just use the office computer for constant search for ‘the Truth’.
If we think about it,..it’s quite ironic isn’t it?
The ‘system’ is made by US, humans, and yet, the exact same system is what killing US, humans,..slowly but sure!
Proof? just take a look at what the damn global economic crisis is doing to America and affecting also so many countries in the world!
All because of the ‘greedy’ system of UNcontrolled capitalist system! (I’m not saying that capitalism is entirely a wrong system, but it has been used so corruptly by people at the very top of the system, like you mentioned so well, lilah).
And all the rules, the BS craps, that it doesn’t seem to side with really ‘good, common’ people.
what the HELL is wrong, how FUCKED UP we have turned into ????
But on a positive note, lilah, I don’t know if you see it too or not,
but I definitely see that along with the rise of all materialism things now,
there’s also very currently seems to be an upsurge or increasing ‘resistance’ movements, in many forms. such as: the Spiritual global movement (that seems like a ‘New Age’ movement), a growing self-help development in many blog corners & seminars, and for some reasons, I can see that the current young generations (Gen Y particularly) are slowly realizing that they don’t HAVE to be bound into working 9-to-5 for the *system*, or corporations, etc. they are much more smarter, in this regards, than their previous generation, and in fact, many of them seems to be more socially-and-environmentally aware. And added especially with the ‘dirty’ impact of the global crisis, and the whole ‘2012’ thing, I can somehow see that there ARE an increasing group of people and movements that seems to focus AWAY from materialism, more into the ‘pure love’ and spirituality, and a GLOBAL one at that!
so these all surely would mean a positive direction, no?
What I’m trying to say is, I am still somehow not losing hope..
I will still try to ‘break’ the system, with my own way.
and in fact, now I’ve realized that all of YOU here who wants to commit suicide, actually, you ARE breaking the ‘system’ too!
all you have to do before ending your life is to leave a HUGE suicide note, a HUGE message, to the world. and USE the Internet, post it in a blog, or create a website or something. we all know that Internet world is VAST!
so by leaving your mark there, your thoughts will forever be ONLINE, and many people globally will easily find and ‘connect’ with your thoughts!
Let the ‘system’ know that we are NOT succumbing
definitely not!!
Yes! We could take all these suicide notes and create a blog or something and say to the world ‘look, this society is killing people! Not all suicides are people who are ill’
also, I believe that viewed in the grandest scale, humanity (humans) still only exist for 0.0001% of Earth’s history (and that’s still only Earth! not entire Universe!), so putting in this perspective, we can definitely see of how damn SMALL & insignificant we truly are!
I truly believe that within this ‘minisculity’, we are currently still in *evolution*, not necessarily in terms of physiological, but in terms of finding the BEST system we can adapt too.
And it might not be in our time, hell, who knows how long humanity will keep existing. Maybe for another 100 years? 1,000 years??
And I don’t know if it’s a selfish thing or not,
but somehow, I do pray and wish that ‘2012’ predictions will really come true, ie: that there’ll be this big catastrophe hitting this Earth,
so MANKIND & humanity will hopefully start realizing and operating at a HIGHER level of consciousness! (this has been talked heavily by ‘spiritual global’ movements. you can go google it for research).
“People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy” – Batman Begins.
Oh I agree wholeheartedly. I study this stuff myself. I literally ache for the end of this world to come.
Interesting post :). I want the world to freeze, so me and others like me can be free …