Sometimes, many of us get to the point where we are thinking of committing suicide as an escape either now, or later in the future on the day when “things” might get too much to handle. Whether we think this way because of terminal sickness, whether our love-life ended up on the rocks or whether we are just fed up with life on earth in general, or whatever other reason, I think we all have the thought, or ask the question: “Is this right or wrong?” This might just be the reason why you are reading this right now, or you might have been led here by spirit for your eyes to see.

Because of my studies in esoteric science and philosophy, or metaphysics, I have access to knowledge that are not well known to members of the general public and I intend to share some of it without making the whole subject to complicated. 

Frequently, today, lives are preserved in form—both in old age and in infancy—that could be well permitted liberation.  They serve no useful purpose and cause much pain and suffering to forms which nature (left to herself) would not long use, and would extinguish.  Note that word.  Through our overemphasis on the value of form life, and through the universal fear of death—that great transition which we must all face—and through our uncertainty as to the fact of immortality, and also through our deep attachment to form, we arrest the natural processes and hold the life, which is struggling to be free, confined to bodies quite unfitted to the purposes of the soul.  Misunderstand me not.  I desire to say naught that could place a premium on suicide.  But I do say, and I say with emphasis, that the Law of Karma is oft set aside when forms are preserved in coherent expression which should be discarded, for they serve no useful purpose.  This preservation is, in the majority of cases, enforced by the subject's group and not by the subject himself—frequently an unconscious invalid, an old person whose response apparatus of contact and response is imperfect, or a baby who is not normal.  These cases constitute definite instances of an offsetting of the Law of Karma. [ESOTERIC HEALING p351]

Thus, according to common-sense and as nature dictates in its wisdom it looks like suicide has its place and it might even be normal or necessary under certain circumstances. Why should mercy killings only be done on animals?

In his Theosophical book, THROUGH THE GATEWAY OF DEATH, Geoffrey Hodson, [who was a Clairvoyant that had the ability to see what he was writing about], had the following to say:

SUICIDE

The Selfless Motive

Certain deviations from the normal after-death conditions occur in cases of suicide and sudden and premature death. At the least three varieties of after-death experience follow upon suicide. When committed from unselfish motives [like in the attempt of saving somebody’s live], after the shock has passed which generally accompanies sudden death, the person settles down to the new life under the conditions previously [see later] described. There is generally no coma in these cases, and no time in which the person can become gradually readjusted to the altered conditions of life.

The Escape Motive

Those who take their lives in order to escape from unacceptable conditions [like sickness] may sink into unconsciousness immediately on leaving the physical body, and remain in that condition until the time of natural death. They then awaken and become subject to the appropriate laws and conditions. It is this fact of awakening when the natural term of physical life would have ended which suggests that, there is a time of natural death fixed—partly by our conduct, of course—for each one of us.

Victims of Desire

The experience of those who commit the third type of suicide is less enviable still. Gross and sensual, they have ended their physical existence in the full flush of life, driven by passion or fear. Their strong desires then keep them earthbound. They can see the replica in subtle matter of the physical plane and live in a half-world…. between this one and the next. Driven by desires and passions which they cannot satisfy, they seek gratification by entering places of sensual indulgence on the physical plane and trying to unite their consciousness with that of the drunkard or the sensualist indulging there. In this circumstances, the physical plane people experience intensification of their desires so that the relationship, even though they are ignorant of it, can be as harmful for them as for the earthbound souls seeking gratification through them.

Suicide, a Profound Error

To the Theosophist possessed of this knowledge, suicide is always a mistake. It temporarily solves certain problems, it is true, but it also raises new ones; for eventually, every obligation must be met, every debt paid, every pain lived through. “God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. [Gal. VI.7] It is wiser, therefore, to accept and endure the difficulties, no matter how painful they may be, than to perpetuate and intensify them by attempted evasion and the additional complication of self-murder, the karmic reaction from which may adversely affect successive incarnations.

Maybe we should take a look at what is a normal death first, before you make up your mind and before we research the matter further. Geoffrey Hodson gave the following information in the same book:

THE PROCESS OF DYING

The Approach of death

If the existence of the faculty of extended vision be granted—not the negative psychism of the entranced medium, but a positive, trained power under the control of the will, just as is physical vision—then let us assume that we are in the chamber of death, watching with the “seeing eye” the transition from this world to the next of someone dying from old age or disease. We shall at once discover the answer to our question: “were the deceased aware of the immediate approach of death?” The answer is: “Generally, no.” The failure of the supply of blood, and so of oxygen, to the brain brings on unconsciousness, a process which is just like falling asleep. Even if there has been suffering at the near approach of death, that suffering ceases before the end.

What shall we see as the process of dying is directly observed? As the hour of dissolution approaches we shall see the life-force of the body being withdrawn from the extremities and centred in the heart, there to be visible as glowing golden light. After this, sensation in the lower limbs is greatly diminished. Then, as death draws nearer, the life-forces are withdrawn still further into the middle of the head, into the third ventricle of the brain, which is the seat of Egoic consciousness during physical life.

The dying person may or may not still be physically conscious. If unconscious, in a coma preceding death, he will be visible to clairvoyant sight out of the body in his superphysical vehicle. This vehicle is built of much finer latter than the ether, and in outline resembles almost exactly the physical body; it is, its counterpart. It differs in appearance from the physical in that the substance of which it is built is self-luminous, so that it glows as if lighted from within, and it is surrounded by an atmosphere which is visible as light in constantly changing colours.

The Superphysical Vesture of the Soul

These colours of the aura, as it is called, correspond to states of consciousness and are seen to vary with every change of feeling and thought. Indeed, there exist a veritable science I may refer to in passing—the science of the correlation of states of consciousness with the colours of the aura. A rush of sympathy for someone in pain or trouble, for example, suffuses the aura with green; intellectual effort floods it with yellow. Blue denotes devotional activity; lilac, spirituality; rose deepening to crimson, love. Red is the colour of anger and irritability;  brown, of selfishness—and so on. As stated, these colours are visible to clairvoyant sight, so that by looking at people’s auras it is possible to tell the kind of thoughts and feelings to which they habitually give expression, and thus to discover their temperament and character. Naturally, such a power is not used save by permission and for research purposes.

The Silver Cord

Thus, the aura will be visible around the dying person who, physically unconscious, is then outside his physical body and floating just above it, but is joined to it by a stream of flowing forces which shine with a delicate silvery light. This current flows between the heads of the physical and the superphysical bodies, thus connecting them. So long as it continues to flow, there is always the possibility of physical awakening. Once it is broken, as at the moment of death, there is no longer any possibility of return. Cases of apparent resuscitation are in reality only reawakenings into bodies that were not dead. This is described in Christianity as Follows: “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl [the etheric double] be broken, or the pitcher [the physical body] be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” [Eccles. 12:6,7]

The Cord Is Loosed

The dying person may return temporarily to his body and, on opening his eyes, may see some of the phenomena of the next world and make reference to people not physically present. When the actual moment of death arrives, the “silver cord” is seen to break and the man himself to rise, as though released from some gravitational pull. Although not absolutely certain, I am inclined to think that the exact moment of death for each one of us is fixed. Whether this is so or not, the moment comes, the cord breaks, the man is free of his body and can awaken in it no more. The signs of death then appear in it; its work is done.

The Past Life Reviewed

In nearly all cases man is as unconscious of dying as he is of falling asleep. He passes, as it were, upon a sigh from this world to the next. He is generally engaged in a process of review, in which the events of the life just closed pass before his mind’s eye in clear perspective, causes and their effects, successes and their results, failures and their outworkings, being seen and correlated. This process of review is very important, for from it is distilled a certain wisdom—the fruitage of the life just closed. It is for this reason that we should mentally, emotionally and physically be quiet in the chamber of death, lest by an excess of grief we disturb the loved one in this important process. He is now living in his subtler body, the body of feeling [emotional body], and is therefore highly sensitive to the forces of thought and emotion. Calmly and with self-control, our thoughts should rightly be turned in love towards him, and in blessing and aspiration for his progress inwards to the inner worlds. In Theosophy we are taught to dwell not so much upon our own great loss as upon his transcendent gain; and transcendent gain it is to be freed from the physical body and its limitations when once its valuable work is done and not before. Such, then, is the theosophical answer to the question: “Were the deceased conscious of the process of dying?”

FIRST EXPERIENCES AFTER DEATH

The Awakening

The review ended, there generally follows a period of complete unconsciousness which may last from thirty-six to forty-eight hours, varying with the individual. Then awakening occurs and the deceased, frequently still TPH, Adyar] deputed to this particular work of assisting new arrivals. They welcome newcomers, explain the change, and help them to settle down to it as comfortable as possible. Few, if any, in these days enter that world without some hand being stretched forth to welcome and to assist them in the first stages. Such is the theosophical answer to the question: “How is the life after death entered?”

No Strange Land

What will be the nature of this Life? At this point I am going to say something which will perhaps be difficult to believe, but since I know it to be true and of great importance, I must state it. The world to which our friends have gone, and to which we will all go when our time comes, is no strange land; for we go there every night whilst our physical body sleeps. Sleep has aptly and truly been called the twin brother of death. We may go further and call them the same thing; for whilst the body sleeps we are awake in the body which we shall use after death. Our dreams are, in part, the confused memories of our life in that world which we bring back on awakening, such as, for instance, the pleasant, poetic, floating motion by which we move, thought-propelled, in the superphysical worlds. Hence quite naturally, the world of the life after death proves to be a familiar place. The difference between sleep and death lies in the fact that, in sleep, “the silver cord” which links us to the body is not broken. In death the cord is broken and, as we then have no link with the physical body, we can return to it no more.

The superphysical world and state of consciousness entered at death consist of two divisions or planes of Nature, the emotional or astral, and the mental. The former, the emotional, contains human and angelic inhabitants, and scenery and other forms visible to the deceased. The latter, the mental, also has its own inhabitants and phenomena, but the experience of the departed whist living there is more subjective and individual.

The Influence of Temperament and Character

The next general principle which I wish to advance is that the conditions in which a person finds himself after death depends largely upon his temperament, and upon the nature of the life he has led on the physical plane. We each see the world around us through the windows of our temperament. The sunny-natured, friendly individual awakens after death to a sunny, friendly world; whilst the gloomy, self-centred hypochondriac may awaken to a dull, gloomy and somewhat lonely world—not because that world is lonely, but because the self-centred individual does not inspire and is unable to give friendship. Happily, the pain, the boredom and the isolation which such people unconsciously created for themselves, spur them into changing their attitude towards life.

We will stop here and go back to our topic - Suicide.

Read more at: http://edgeba.webs.com/suicide.htm