Discuss.

This is certainly a tough one.

Suicide is only right if it meets certain conditions. Doing out of boredom is stupid or anything like that is dumb. Some of these conditions are simple.

Your life sucks to the point where you consider yourself not living, but existing, wasting space.

I don't like suicide.

my only feeling on the mater is that if you are feeling that you need to die then seek professional help immediately! irregardless of how your feeling if you die then loved ones will feel bad, life is worth living, and if your feeling that it isnt then you need to know your facing a mental illness that is manageable if you get help. i dont support self death in any way shape or form, its the easy way out of a problem that doesnt even exist.

"I should thank you. After all, it was your life that showed me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end." ~ Agent Smith

While Smith and the machines are infatuated with purpose, he does have a point. Ultimately, no one escapes death. As Smith so eloquently puts it, "It's inevitable."

The purpose of death as it fits into God's grand design is so that we won't live forever in this fallen state of being. The world we live in really is a fallen world. It wasn't originally supposed to be the way it is. Everything changed when man sinned against God. We were originally supposed to live forever in corporeal form. Death is actually an act of mercy on God's part, allowing us to escape from this fallen reality.

I think the purpose of being alive is to grow as a person, mentally and spiritually. That's what you'll be taking with you into the next life when you die: yourself. Unfortunately, your life is not about you. It's about everyone except you. If me being alive helps just one person in some way, be it companionship, financial support, or an influence that helps another person to grow in some way, then my life is fulfilling its purpose. Just by being alive and helping those around me, I am serving a purpose greater than myself. And that's what it's all about. Servitude. I am a servant to others.

If (when?) I reach a point where I can no longer fulfill my purpose and the only thing death would bring is others missing me, then I would want to die. Those who miss me will just have to deal with it. I had to deal with it when my dog Hobbes died. To wit, we're more humane to our pets than we are to ourselves. Hobbes was living with near constant arthritis pain in his old age, and he was suffering from seizures that would've only gotten worse if I hadn't had him put to sleep. It was his time to go. Yet when a person is living in similar conditions, we don't want to let them go. Stop being selfish jerks and let someone die if he's no longer able to fulfill his purpose in life.

Death has to happen eventually. Don't fight it. Embrace it. And embrace God while you're at it.

"If God is for me, what can stand against me?"

that type a hypocrisy to claim to follow gods path and yet would commit one of the greatest sins, murdering yourself.

im not so hot on the whole fallen world principle, i prefer to live this life to the fullest. i believe that life is about the journey rather then the finality. death is only the balance to life, no reason to fear it, just embrace its purpose and live to enjoy everything along the way. even in your dieing steps you can teach others, no life is wasted, no life should be cut short simply because its holder has lost faith in their selves.

i enjoy the matrix, but not for what it teaches me about death, but what metaphors it shows me about life. a machine cannot know death, and a human cannot know eternal life. its natural to want what we cannot have, to experience what we can never know. the finite qualities of our lives give it greater depth of meaning. our limits do not bind us, but rather define us.

I said that I would want to die, not that I would kill myself.

Even though it's a fallen world we live in, God wants us to get the most out of it. He hasn't given up on it. He does indeed want you to live this life to its fullest.

I hate pain. I hate fear... And death kinda has those things in common for me.

I've thought about it. Most of us have. And.. As much has I hate life. Death seems more scary.

I want to write pages of comments and arguments but I'll have to settle for the following response:

I mostly agree with Crythania minus the God's design comments.

I do believe for myself that almost nothing is a reason to kill myself, but then again there are very few reasons not to. The universe will go on and even if it doesn't, who will be there to care?

The main reason not to kill myself is, "I don't wanna".

I truly empathize with someone who has lost a loved one to suicide, to cry for them and hate them for the way they feel about it.

The problem I have is the inconsistency that someone who believes I have a responsibility to stay alive for them, for their happiness, doesn't seem to recognize that they are not in my mind to know what I do or don't know about what will make me happy or at least not unhappy. Why should their happiness come before mine? Maybe in some social contracts, but not when it comes to MY life, especially since I never "signed up" to live and therefore I did not agree to any terms.

Lastly, if I am supposed to train myself to be happy enough not to kill myself (as though I have the power), then they can train themselves to be happy without me (because it is just that easy right?)

Bo,

That's exactly one of the points I was trying to make! Your life is not about you. It's about everyone except you. Others daily exert power over you by expecting things from you, be it companionship or something more. Society expects you to want to live, even if you're living in a state of constant pain or hooked up to a machine that keeps you alive. Your desires aren't even taken into consideration. Those who "love" you are selfish in wanting you to stick around to fulfill their needs for companionship.

It's not about you. It's about what others are getting from you. Everyone you're close to wants something from you. It's the selfish nature of the beast.

Your life is not 'about' anything until it is meaningful. It means different things to different minds so it is about you to you and society to society (with respect to a common traditional mindset of some people).

It is selfish of others to expect things of me and consistently it is selfish of me to expect others not expect things from me.

We are all selfish in a society but I don't see how that means my life is about one and not the other. It is about both simultaneously. But I have control of myself more directly so I choose to do what I want to do PRIME-arily.

Eternity is one friggin' LONG time. You want to end your life sooner and make it even longer for yourself?
I'm not religious in any way... I think there's nothing on the other side. Nothing, you know? Just a huge blackness. And no noise. And no smell. But you won't notice, because you won't be able to see or hear or smell. You won't exist.

So yeah. Crappy life that makes you want to suicide, or eternal limbo of nothingness?
I'll take the crappy life, thank you.

As bad as my life has gotten, I've never seriously thought about committing suicide.

"Suicide. Incest. Parricide. Humans are the only creatures on this Earth with these kinds of flaws."

It's our free will, and we can do with it what we like. Certain traits being almost unique to our species such as critical thinking or the ability to question "Why?" instead of just going with the flow have lead us to the state of civilization we are in now.

However, those same abilities are the very reason we possess so many flaws. Whether or not it's right or wrong is not for any single person to decide. Most of the people who say that things like this are inexcusably wrong also walk around toting ideas of free will and tell their children they can be and do whatever they want when they grow up. It's one big contradiction.

This critical thinking can lead people to think that they have no reason to stick around. It can lead us to thinking our existence is inconsequential to anything because of how long-lasting and ever prominent non-sentient existence is proving to be. It can lead to complete denial of the way we are running our civilization.

On the flip side of that same coin, there's the curiosity. No one seems to acknowledge the people who don't do things like commit suicide for reasons other than the incredibly obvious "depression". Here's a thought: There are countless reasons for our flaws. People need to stop attributing only a few basic concepts to everything and blacking out the rest. Doing this just leads to misunderstandings, or simply makes things impossible to understand. This is what I would call a necessary complexity in life. "Keep it simple, stupid" is not the way to go in every case.

Can you honestly say you've never been in a high place and thought "What if"? What would happen is obvious. Think deeper than that. What if? We all theorise about what happens after life. We all wonder if there's anything beyond that. What about the people who have reached a resolve that makes them find the truth to be more important than living? Even if those people will never be able to share it, at least they will know.

What if?

Well I don't think one should turn to suicide as an answer to their problems, no matter how insurmountable they may be. Of course I think of consciousness as the greatest thing we have in this life, though it would certainly suck to lose all senses, but I think even with only one left it would be worth it. But I'm an introvert so I'm a bit biased in that respect. As long as I can still think I'm good, well ok.

As for being humane an 'letting' people die, I'm not so sure about that either. NO ONE knows what happens after you die, so I'm not sure sending someone to an unknown fate to try to escape a current problem their experiencing is the best solution to the problem. For all we know we all face eternal damnation for the sins of our fathers, or nothingness, or all live in nice large palaces in some alternate dimension where the world is perfect (and likely boring). So I think all too often we view it as putting someone out of their misery, never stopping to think of the potential misery that may be ahead of them. But I guess if it's their choice, and one made of right mind, then whatever, we were supposedly given the freedom to choose (to varying degrees depending on your current society and religion).

So I know I would never attempt it, though certainly the thoughts of what if enter my head from time to time. But then again I also wonder what if we are only figments of some greater being, what if reality doesn't really exist and we are trapped in some kind of infinite world composed of small finite time periods. Also I believe the point of life is simply to live, I don't subscribe to the thoughts that we're part of some grand scheme as I personally believe that be us reassuring ourselves in times of adversity, and also a bit egocentric. So enjoy life while you can while trying not to impede on others enjoyment of their lives (which includes always being a downer , don't always talk to one particular person about your problems, indulge theirs from time to time, and bring good news sometimes as well), because this may be all their is for all we know.

I find this somewhat relevant
"Tyler Durden: Shut up! Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God?
Narrator: No, no, I... don't...
Tyler Durden: Listen to me! You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen.
Narrator: It isn't?
Tyler Durden: We don't need him!"

Then again I really like Fight Club ... so yeah.

@Gnasher
If there is nothing after death, what does it matter if you kill yourself? You won't be around to regret it, feel bad for others or know that you lost your life? By taking the crappy life, you get to know that you are living a crappy life.

@Thetruecoolness
Are you saying since no one knows (although how do you KNOW no one knows) what happens after death, are you saying that consentual killing while not necessarily humane, is also not necessarily inhumane, as there is no standard from which to judge it by other than relative?

Well how do YOU know I don't know. Hmm . Quite the conundrum absolute truth is. While you can say the saying there is absolute truth is true because the converse is necessarily false (it's a contradiction), this assumes logic is a correct form of proof, haha. So while I certainly can't say with certain I know someone doesn't have the answer, they can't say with certainty they have it either. It is always possible to doubt I believe, since even our senses could be lying to us.

I guess consensual killing really wouldn't be that inhumane since the person does ask for it, though that can be stretched out quite a bit as to what is asking for it. I guess it brings up the question is it better to live with the devil you know, or the devil you don't know (so to speak). And that's really on a person by person basis. I guess if you want to quicken you're journey to the compete unknown, more power to you, but I say why not enjoy that which is partially known for a while, since the unknown is coming anyway, why expedite a process that most people agree is infinite, and even if it does just end why rush towards that either.

People should kill themselves instead of being an attention whore. Their deaths will somehow please their thoughts and others who want them to die.