What is easier: living life or doing CTB

[Valhala]

A really difficult and very intriguing question. CTB is mostly stigmatized as cowardice and running away from problems, which all those who face SI and the desire to do CTB know is not true at all. On the contrary, CTB is even a heroic act because one has to defeat one's own SI and to bravely embark on the interruption of everything known so far, forward into the unknown, faced with numerous prejudices, condemnations of society and community and one's own SI. On the other hand, many choose life precisely because of the lack of courage for CTB and not because it is their right choice. I am of the opinion that this is extremely individual and that neither path (the path of living and the path of CTB) is the least bit easy or simple. Perhaps, in general, the choice of CTB would still be a slightly more difficult path because there is no easy CTB and life, for a certain number of people, still it can be somewhat simple and easy.

 

[deletedaccount30982]

They're both incredibly hard in their own unique ways. Scared to live but scared to die. One option is really just slow suicide. The other has an end point if nothing goes wrong. Problem is so much can and often does go wrong.

 

[AllTheseQuestions]

Living life is harder than suicide.

However, suicide is much harder than living one more day, which is often the problem we are faced with.

 

[Reflection]

I think deciding to commit suicide rationally is an extremely ballsy thing to do, so if a person powers through that to end their life then I think it's safe to say that whatever pain they were dealing with is greater than that to kill themselves.

 

[Valhala]

Да, тако је ако човек делује у тренутку и импулсивно, када се проблем чини непремостивим, а бес и беспомоћност надвладају здрав разум и човек реагује изненада. Ако неко рационално донесе одлуку и скупи храброст да је спроведе, не бих се сложио са тим да говори толико о тежини свог живота, колико можда о резигнацији, дубоком разочарењу у живот и губитку смисла, који може бити делимично филозофски став и не мора бити искључиво производ егзистенцијалног бола и тешких животних околности.

Мислим да је одлука да се рационално изврши самоубиство крајње безобразна ствар, тако да ако се особа снађе кроз то да оконча свој живот, онда мислим да је сигурно рећи да је било какав бол са којим су се суочили већи од тога да се убије.

 

[FuneralCry]

Nothing easy to me, I really wish suicide could be straightforward for me, I wish it could be painless like just choosing to fall into an eternal, dreamless sleep. For me personally ceasing to exist truly is all that is desirable, I only wish for death to bring me peace from the cruelty and suffering that existence causes, all I hope for is to never exist again which is why it brings me so much pain how I cannot just peacefully die, for me existence just feels like a terrible mistake, I'm so tired of suffering in this existence I never would have chose.

 

[FailedCSDev]

If ctb was easy I wouldn't be here right now. Life gets you one day at a time, which can be absolutely hellish, but because you default to just living it's easier. I just hope that the next time I will attempt ctb I have the strength to get it over with and leave forever.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Without a crystal ball or, knowing for sure whether there is an afterlife and whether that's good or bad- who can say? We could have a peaceful suicide and drift off into nothingness. We could win the lottery next week which may take care of some people's problems. We could also attempt and maim ourselves for life and equally, if we don't attempt, we could struggle on for decades wishing we'd tried harder to die earlier.

The whole courage thing is a weird one. I agree- both can take a great deal of courage. The issue I have with life taking courage (and I agree, it does,) is that- that surely hinges on life itself being deemed valuable and worth fighting for.

As an example, let's say a child falls into a lion enclosure. Some brave person jumps in to save them. That's brave I would say. They risked their life to protect the child. If both got out unscathed, they likely saved the lion too. The keepers most probably have orders to kill the lion if life is at stake. I don't think anaesthetic darts always work quickly enough. As another example, some idiot climbs in the enclosure to get a selfie with a lion. That isn't brave. That's dumb. It puts everyone at risk, including the lion. Same action, different motives.

My point is- just what kind of a life am I likely to lead if I continue? Is it going to be a life full of heroic deeds and altruism? Most likely not. Effectively, all I'm likely to do is continue to work my fingers to the bone to make rich people richer. How is that brave? That's dumb! Maybe the answer would be to try and live a more altruistic life but, I'm struggling to make my own ends meet as it is. I'd say actions are only really brave if we value the end result. The only brave thing I'm doing in continuing to live is not inflicting grief on the people that might be affected if I did suicide.

 

[wCvML2]

Suicide is purposefully designed to be the more difficult choice by biology, the body will fight to survive until its last breath no matter the quality of life or what the mind wants. From an outside perspective, dying might seem easier since death doesn't require anything and lacks needs. Like, when I hadn't yet attempted to die I would ask myself why not do VSED, it has no requirements. Well, after reading many failed VSED attempts now I know that the body will fight against it as long as it can, it's not as easy as simply choosing death. Conceptually we as humans understand that in some cases death is the more desirable state than a life that doesn't meet its host threshold for quality of life but our instincts beg to differ even then.

 

[TAW122]

I would say both can be equally hard, especially if one is looking to 'live life/sentience well'. Living well (good quality of life and getting to the point of having a life where one is like "hey, I'll stick around" or something) takes a lot of effort, luck, resources, and in some cases, may even be out of our control. As for CTB'ing, I would say it "can" be slightly easier than living life assuming one is powerful enough to be able to overcome one's own self-preservation instinct (the SI). However, even after overcoming one's SI, if one's execution, planning, or even method is insufficient (or unexpected complications and events happen) then CTB could fail resulting in a worse outcome.

 

[-nobodyknows-]

I don't think ctb is something to be admired. It is very sad that people feel like they have to do that. I wish there was another way for people like me.

 

[Just_Another_Person]

CTB is easier. But not always what is easier is the best

CTB is (or at least should be) a last resort, when there is no longer any possible play.

 

[Seiba]

Both are rather difficult. Life is kind of a poison that rots you from the inside over time, unless a major event happens. Suicide comparably is difficult all at once instead of over time which is where the willpower for it is needed.