If you have read a lot of this site you will understand that my approach is to explain things in terms of Darwin and Buddha. Suicide then in Darwinist terms can best be explained by imagining we are a troupe of apes that can talk to each other. A member of the troupe gets injured, perhaps by a fall from a tree or during a battle with the alpha male from a monkey troupe. That ape then says to his fellow apes, (remember there is no medicine in the ape world), “Leave me to the jackals friends, I must die now for it will be a burden to you if I live, for I cannot keep up with you as you hunt in the jungle for food, nor climb trees for food”

I watched a programme on British television about a former footballer going to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, to die. His daughter and wife were with him. He had a degenerative disease which left him virtually immobile. As the time came for him to die he said to his daughter and wife “Don’t cry”, though I a sure they had trouble holding back the tears

It is simple. It is nature. We should not cry, nor condemn especially. It is the compassion of the suicidal to not be a pain to others. It is the bravery of the suicidal to face the jackals.

That is not to say that suicide should be a course of action that is recommended. In fact many people recover from suicidal cravings and lead normal lives afterwards. Anybody contemplating suicide should be treated with compassion, encouraged to explore their options in life and examine whether it is rational to imagine the feelings will not change.

They should never be condemned, even when it is apparent they may leave others in distress. Others must try to take or be taught, the paths of the ape troupe mentioned above. To carry on and survive as a troupe without a friend, gone who knows where, meeting who knows what dangers beyond life, or what happiness or what oblivion.

The Bible of course condemns suicide in the Old Testament and Judas is mocked and condemned for his alleged suicide, (although another disciple says his guts burst). Perhaps if his guts burst he was murdered by God either through a power or by proxy through some other power. My own experiences after leaving church are that you are not instantly welcomed by something opposing God. On the contrary one appears to be declared an object to be bullied and tricked. This is another reason I believe God needs Satan for his plan to deceive mankind. Rationally, if he opposed God, Satan would recruit disenchanted. Perhaps Judas simply suffered as I did, a rational mind dealing with spiritual fascism of which we have little knowledge or understanding.

One thing that has disturbed me in my life was when I was interviewed by British Military Security in the early 1990s. When I described some of the things I did I mentioned that I worked for a telephone help line set up for lonely, depressed and suicidal people. The interviewer said to me “Well you know your integrity is in question because you are a listener on a confidential service”. He would have probably developed this from an ill-informed view of Protestants lay people about the catholic confessional etc. From my point of view he was saying that your integrity is in question because you are compassionate towards those suffering in this life, which of course is the principle of these types of help lines. Muslims believe their God is compassionate. Since that time the world has been plagued by Muslim suicide bombers. Do they not ultimately seek a God who shows compassion, despite in my opinion being deluded? One might have replied to the interviewer, “Do you know your integrity is in question and the integrity of the British military is in question when its representatives say such ignorant things, because you are supposed to be serving a queen who is head of the church which is supposed to serve a compassionate God?” Interestingly, since then the Queen has had somewhat of a reconciliation with the catholic church.