HW9: Suicide and NDE

There are times when we feel like everything is falling apart; life seems so difficult and some people just can't take such difficulty and they feel like they only have one way out -- taking their own lives.

Just recently, I've lost a friend from suicide. She was a very loyal friend, a good student, and a very loving daughter to her parents. I remember a lot of people grieving. It was so hard for me to fight back my tears when I saw her lying in her coffin and most especially when I saw the grief and suffering of her family and other love ones from her loss.

What these suicide victims ignore and most of the time just fail to realize, their actions could drastically damage their families emotionally and that in itself is the real tragedy. It has been said a suicide dies only once, but those left behind die inside everyday trying to look for reasons why. Karmic penalties are results from hurting others, as revealed by NDEs. However, not all suicides inflict serious damage, nor do all suicides have negative consequences.

There are both very beautiful and hellish accounts of NDEs. This suggests that the act of suicide itself isn't a factor in determining the quality of the NDE.

I came across an article in the Near Death site about the connection of NDE and suicide. In the said article, Dr. George Ritchie, who miraculously returned to life after dying of pneumonia, learned about what happens to the people who commits suicide. He stated that the quality of life a person initially finds after suicide is influenced by their motive for committing it. He classifies suicide in 3 ways:

- Those who kill themselves in order to hurt someone, get revenge, or to kill themselves out of hatred for someone else. According to Ritchie, these people haunt the living by being aware of every horrible consequence their suicide had on others.

-those who, because of mental illness, confusion, terminal illness, take their own life. Ritchie states these people are allowed many opportunities from God to grow in love just as any other person would who had not committed suicide. In other words, there are negative consequences for them.

-those who kill themselves from drug, alcohol, or any other addiction. According to Ritchie, these people can become stuck in limbo, trying in vain to satisfy their addiction until eventually something frees them. This condition is often called an earthbound condition.

NDEs reveal there is no condemnation from God for our actions. The problem many suicides face after death is the difficulty of forgiving themselves for the horror they put people through by taking their own life. When you die, it is only the physical body that ceases to function, so any emotion- whether it be love, hate, guilt you had in the physical world, you'll still have it in the spiritual.

Don't ever think that every suffering just ends when you kill yourself. It's not how the world works! You're only trying to run away from yourself, and trust me when I say you can never run from yourself. If you're trpped in an abusive situation, seek for help. Do something today to help yourself. You are the one who can make it better, but only if you seek help.

For me, being able to read about the experiences of people who got back from the dead inspires me to live more and gives me courage to face the challenges that life throws at me. No matter what you believe in, these things are very helpful in teaching you to trust and love yourself. Through all the pain and sufferings, just don't give up, keep trying, hang in there, and I'm sure sooner or later you'll feel glad that you did.