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Suicide
- why
avoid it?
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"The
very spirits of
people who have
committed
suicide
are unanimous
in declaring
the intensity of
suffering
they experience
(...).
They affirm that
hunger,
disillusionment,
poverty,
disgrace,
illness,
blindness,
or
any other
situation
no matter how
distressing
it is
on
Earth,
would still be
excellent
condition
compared to the
best that
can
be achieved by
means of suicide.
" 1
Hilário Silva2
narrates
that Allan
Kardec,
in April
of
1860,
went through
times of
discouragement.
Difficulties of
all sorts
supervened over
him:
criticism,
insults,
mockery and
lack of
resources.
On
that occasion,
he
received
a
beautifully
bound
copy of "The
Spirits´Book",
with a
letter of
gratitude from
a
stranger.
The
letter reported
that the
writer
had being about
to
throw himself
into the River
Seine. When
holding
on to
the rail
of a bridge,
he saw
a book
there.
It was
"The
Spirits´Book. The
death
of his beloved
woman had led
him
to despair
and this was
the reason
for
his
disenchantment
with life.
Hilário Silva
also registered
that Allan
Kardec
read the letter;
feeling between
angry and
curious;
in the
frontispiece
of the book:
"This book
saved my
life.
Read it
carefully and
take good
advantage.
- A.
Laurent.”
He then
immersed himself
in
reading of the
book and
not in the
waters of the
river. He
abandoned the
ominous idea
and resumed
life.
When
he sent the book
to Kardec,
he
added:
"It saved
me, too.
God bless the
souls
who have
cooperated
in its
publication.
-
Joseph
Perrier.”
And he
encouraged
Allan
Kardec
to "carry
out his
tasks
for
clarification
of Humanity."
The testimony
had come
when the
Missionary
was
feeling
the full weight
of his
task and it
cheered him up,
encouraging him
to
continue the
work
of the
Codification
of Spiritism.
The
Codifier(Allan
Kardec),
was moved when
he read the
letter.
He took
a handkerchief
to his
eyes,
discreetly
wiping away his
tears
…
The study
of Spiritism
has freed
human
being
from
falls
As can be seen,
from
its origin
in the last
century,
the study
of Spiritist
Philosophy
and
the
understanding of
its principles
has
freed
mankind from
the
falls
that
lead them to
ignorance of
spiritual
reality.
It gives man
assurance of
survival
of the Spirit
after the
death of the
body;
it
explains
about
responsibility
for his actions,
the
knowledge of the
Law
of Cause
and Effect;
and
the futility of
extreme action,
that is,
as
eternal
Spirits,
it is
impossible for
us to
renounce life.
Enlightened
candidates
for
self-destruction,
give up
this act
which is the
fruit
of unbelief,
despair
and materialism
when they read
testimonials
from
Spirits of
suicides:
life goes on;
untold
sufferings
befall
the victims of
this
futile attempt
to
escape,
consequences
of
suicide go on
for
centuries
of
suffering,
the
restoration of
balance
through
reincarnations
to
atone for
the consequences
of
this
severe shortage.
The
abundant
Spiritist
literature
contains much
about it,
from the launch
of the book
"Heaven
and Hell"3
on 1st
August
1865,
by Allan
Kardec'.
There
one can
read
testimonies of
suicides;
studies
and observations
on the topic by
the
Codifier,
in Chapter
5
of
Part 2.
Voluntary
suicide
means a
transgression of
the law
of God
It guides
us,
though,
about what
many of us
ignored:
excesses
of all kinds
are
varieties
of suicides,
although
slow
and indirect
but also
serious, albeit
unconscious:
- Excess
of
food
and work;
-
The habit of
irritation and
anger;
-
The use of
alcoholic
beverages;
-
The habit of
smoking;
-
The use
of intoxicants;
-
Excesses,
indeed all
the vices,
physical
or moral.
It is what
one reads in the
book "Our
Home"(aka Astral
city).4
In
"The Spirits’
Book"5
,
questions
943 to 957
deal with the
subjects:
Heartbreak
of Life.
Suicide.
Amongst
them, we
highlight the
following:
Question
944:
Has man
the right to
dispose of his
life?
-
No,
only
God
has
this right.
Voluntary
suicide
means a
transgression of
this
law."
a)
–
Is
suicide not
always
voluntary?
-
"The
madman who
commits suicide
does not
know what
he
does."
Question
950:
What
are we to think
about those who
commit suicide,
hoping
to get
more quickly to
a
better life?
-
Another
madness!
It is better yet
for one carry
out good deeds
and surely one
will be nearer
to a better
life, as
committing
suicide, delays
entry into a
better world and
one
will have to ask
to be allowed
back
to finish the
life
that was
ended by
oneself
under the
influence of
a
false idea.
A
mistake,
whatever it may
be,
never
opens the
sanctuary
of the elected
ones.
"
"Question
957:
In general
terms with
respect to the
state
of the Spirit,
what are the
consequences
of suicide?
The consequences
of
suicide are very
diverse. There
are not
determined
penalties,
and
in all cases,
they
always
correspond
to the causes
that
produced
suicide.
However
there is
a
consequence
which
the one who
committed
suicide
cannot escape:
it is
disappointment.
But
luck
is not the same
for all,
it
depends on the
circumstances.
.
Some
atone for
the mistake
immediately,
others in a
new existence,
which will be
worse
than that which
was interrupted.
"
"That
man carries out
good
and for
sure one will be
near to
better life", it
is the wise
suggestion
from a Spirit.
We can not
in any way,
run away
from ourselves
Let us see
two
valuable lessons
on the subject.
From
Herminio
C.
Miranda
(João
Marcus):
"In
fact, suicide is
basically
an
escape.
The
suicidal
wants to
escape
from
embarrassing
situations,
disappointments,
people
he hates,
the
hurt that
one feels as
having no
strength to bear.
He desires,
after all,
to
run away from
himself.
Therein lies
the genesis of
his fatal
disappointment:
we cannot
in any way
run away from
ourselves.
(…)
And
those who
shatter
their own ears
with
a
shotgun blast;
are reborn with
the hearing
mechanism
destroyed,
therefore not
being able to
hear and
unable to
learn how to
speak. And
then
they go
through
a
whole life,
isolated
in the
enforced
solitude
in order that
their Spirit
understand
in the silence,
the true
meaning of life
and the
invaluable value
of the gifts
we receive
at birth.
Those who
drank
corrosive
poison
are born with
their viscera
disabled,
subject to
mysterious and
incurable
ailments.
(...)
Thus,
suicide is the
biggest, the
most
tragic and
unfortunate
mistake
that a human
being
can commit."6
(our
underlining)
From
Emmanuel:
"154
- What are
the
first
impressions of
those
who died
by suicide?
The
first
disappointment
that awaits them
is the reality
of
life that is
not
extinguished
with
the transitions
of the
death of the
body,
life
compounded by
dreadful
torments
because of
their decision
ridden with
supreme
defiance.
There are those
who committed
suicide who
carry on
experiencing the
physical
ailments
of their last
hour
on Earth in
their
somatic body
indefinitely.
(...)
the
worst
emotion of
those who
committed
suicide
is to carrying
on seeing
, minute by
minute,
the process of
decomposition of
their body
left
in the ground,
vermined and
rotten ".7
Jealous
wives
who have
resorted
to suicide
have seen
their husbands
getting married
exactly to
those whom
they were
jealous of.
They
gave away their
own husband
and children
into
the hands of
those they had
run away from.
And they
still
owe them
favours,
since
those who
fulfilled
the
tasks
that were up to
the dead wives
to carry on
together with
their loved
ones.
Entrepreneurs
feeling no
prospect, seeing
the problems
they faced
overcome.
And
so on.
In
no case,
those who commit
suicide
are exempt
from the consequences
of their mistake
From
testimonies
of suicides
themselves;
from answers
or from
observations by
Allan
Kardec coming
from higher
order Spirits
and from
the questions
mentioned above,
it is concluded
that:
-
Suicide
aggravates
the sufferings
of the Spirit;
- Those
who
shorten
their sufferings,
voluntarily
hastening
their death;
are mistaken.
-Those who
commit suicide
are moved away
from those
whom they love:
"Instead
of coming
together
to those who
were
the
object of their
affections,
they move away
from them
for a long time
because it is
not
possible that
God
rewards
an
act of cowardice
(...)"
(question
956 of The
Spirits´ Book);
There is
long and
stubborn
persistence of
the
bond that unites
the
spirit to the
body,
causing
spiritual
disruption
and many
sufferings;
-
They endlessly
experience their
own
annihilation;
-They feel
the effects of
decomposition;
-
This sensation
can last
for as long as
the shortened
life
should have
lasted.
On commenting
on question
957
of "The Spirits`
Book,"
Kardec
says:
"This
effect is
not
general,
but
in no case,
the suicide
is exempt
from the
consequences of
their lack of
courage and,
sooner or later,
he
atones,
one
way or another,
for the offence
incurred.
So
certain
spirits,
who were very
unhappy
on Earth,
said they had
committed
suicide
in a previous
existence
and
voluntarily
submitted to
new
tests, in
order
to try to
support them
with
more resignation(...)
(...)
Most
of them suffer
the regret of
having made
a
useless choice,
since they only
encountered
disappointments.
"
But
if
nothing positive
comes out
from suicide,
if it
leads to
disappointments,
to prolonged
suffering
for themselves
and
others,
to
painful
repairs
over
many
incarnations
and
it
only
causes
harm, why
resort to it?
It is
our duty to
avoid it and
to move the
unwary; who are
about to fall
into an abyss of
pain; away
from it by
resorting
to prayer,
spiritual
healing
at the spiritist
centres,
medical
treatment,
the work
for the benefit
of others,
where by
giving
ourselves
to the most
in
need we
move away from
obsessing
spirits
and sanitize the
mind.
And
always pray
for those who
were
fragile
and
surrendered
to the
impossible
escape.
Sources:
1 - FREDERICO
FRANCISCO.
The strange
world of the
suicidals.
The Reformer,
Rio de Janeiro,
number 3, page
70, pages 88 to
89, March, 1994;
2 - SILVA,
Hilário.
The Spirit of
Truth.
3rd
edition Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1977. pages
125-128: Chapter
52.
3 - KARDEC,
Allan. Heaven
and Hell. 37th
edition Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1991. page 425p,
295 to 327:
2nd
Parte, Chapter
5;
4 - XAVIER,
Francisco C.
Xavier. Nosso
Lar (aka: Astral
City), by
the Espirit
André Luiz. 25th
edition. Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1982. pages 281,
31-35. Chapter
4;
5 - KARDEC,
Allan. The
Spirits´Book.
75th
edition. Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1994. pages 439
to 444: 4th
Part, Chapter 1;
6 - JOÃO MARCUS.
Is it worth
it to commit
suicide?.
The Reformer,
Rio de Janeiro,
1963, Rio
de Janeiro, , n.
1.976, pages 340
to 341, November
1993;
7 - XAVIER,
Francisco C.
The Consoler,
by the Spirit
Emmanuel.
7th
edition. Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1977. Page 96.
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