Discussion the “selfish” act

[bear_trapped]

do you believe ending your suffering is selfish? people tend to always point at the families of people who have committed. i get it, it can be hard to lose someone you're close to. however, it sounds even more selfish to force someone to stay alive. you're begging for someone to be here even though they find no enjoyment or fulfillment from it. what are they gaining from staying alive? more pain? false hope? even if they do start feeling good eventually, it'll all be taken from them one day anyways. it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things when death is always inevitable

 

[iplantoleave]

Not really. A lot of "pro-lifers" share the sentiment that people should always choose life despite the circumstances, that everyone has a chance of life being better. You can do all the right things, take antidepressants, go to therapy and it's not working the way it's intended.. if people are in insufferable pain from trying to live life then it's the people around you being selfish. They don't want to feel bad because you had to ctb, ya know?

also the fact that happiness will be taken away one day is something that makes life beautiful sometimes :p
(personally) realizing that stuff doesn't matter in the grand schemes helped me make decisions in life that made me extremely happy!

 

[Foogs]

It's selfish to kill yourself when people love you, it's selfish for the people who love you to prevent you from dying if it's really for the best. It's better to think of it like a toxic relationship, there aren't any winners here

 

[motel rooms]

It's selfish to kill yourself when people love you, it's selfish for the people who love you to prevent you from dying if it's really for the best.

It's selfish to kill yourself when people love you even if you are in constant excruciating pain?

 

[Pen>Sword]

To make my suicide "less selfish", I will repay my parents money. I don't owe them exactly, but they felt that they have an obligation to pay for my college supplies, which includes nursing kits, despite Canada gives student loans generously compared to USA. I don't pay rent, gas, food, or other essentials. I pay nothing under my parent's roof. Hopefully I will pay them enough someday to make my suicide less selfish.

I want to take care of them when they're old, but at this rate of my mental health deterioration, I don't know.

I didn't ask to be born. Simply existing at bare minimum is just too expensive. I wish I wasn't born so that I don't owe anyone anything, whether it be money or gratitude.

 

[motel rooms]

also the fact that happiness will be taken away one day is something that makes life beautiful sometimes :p

Could you elaborate on that theory?

 

[bear_trapped]

It's selfish to kill yourself when people love you even if you are in constant excruciating pain?

it's hard to say if people really love you if they're willing to watch you constantly be in excruciating pain

 

[Foogs]

It's selfish to kill yourself when people love you even if you are in constant excruciating pain?

I'd say so, yes. You're taking an action you know will severely negatively impact other people for your personal "benefit". That's the definition of selfishness. Whether or not it's selfish doesn't really matter though. It's just a bad concept to apply to suicide. For example, is it selfish to leave an abusive partner who will suffer terribly if you leave them? Yes, but obviously you shouldn't stay with an abusive partner. It's a misapplication of the concept. We really just shouldn't bother asking if suicide is selfish.

 

[iplantoleave]

Could you elaborate on that theory?

being aware that permanence in life doesn't exist, it helps you live in the present, it grounds you and it's able to let you appreciate everything that life has to offer. warts and all.

 

[motel rooms]

I'd say so, yes. You're taking an action you know will severely negatively impact other people for your personal "benefit". That's the definition of selfishness. Whether or not it's selfish doesn't really matter though. It's just a bad concept to apply to suicide. For example, is it selfish to leave an abusive partner who will suffer terribly if you leave them? Yes, but obviously you shouldn't stay with an abusive partner. It's a misapplication of the concept.

Yay, another wannabe philosopher

being aware that permanence in life doesn't exist, it helps you live in the present, it grounds you and it's able to let you appreciate everything that life has to offer. warts and all.

Yay, another wannabe Buddhist philosopher

 

[Foogs]

I'm just saying that suicide is merely sad. It's sad that some people suffer so much that they end up doing it and it's sad that it hurts the surrounding people. What else needs to be said, really?

 

[motel rooms]

Whether or not it's selfish doesn't really matter though. It's just a bad concept to apply to suicide.

Then why did you do it?

 

[Foogs]

Then why did you do it?

Just participating in the topic

 

[ClownMe]

its the opposite of selfish in my opinion.

 

[motel rooms]

it's hard to say if people really love you if they're willing to watch you constantly be in excruciating pain

It takes a very special kind of person to watch someone suffer in vain. I believe we usually call such people psychopaths

 

[112]

Selfish acts can be morally permissible. I think applying the word 'selfish' to suicide without elaborating is in bad faith. It allows us to speculate on what the argument might be without actually saying it. One word is not an argument.

 

[FuneralCry]

Suicide is not selfish. We did not ask to exist in the first place so it isn't like we have an obligation to stay alive. I believe the right to die is important, it is cruel to expect somebody to live for decades against their wishes. That is selfish, as well as taking away peaceful methods. This life is cruel and there is no limit as to how bad it can get.

 

[prettyinprozac]

read this essay called encounters with suicide in the book new gods by E.M cioran - it should help

 

[Apaturesuicience]

however, it sounds even more selfish to force someone to stay alive

This is what I tend to tell people when they call suicide selfish. For some reason its okay for them to be selfish, but not me.

The part I find more frustrating is when people tell me I take too much responsibility for others' happiness and that causes my depression. Then I tell them that if I look out for myself, I would just kill myself and that would be the end of it. They quickly reply "that's not okay, and how would you feel about what you'd be putting other people through?" It's super frustrating.