Considering Suicide?

Suicide Ideation and the NDE

"Ideation" is the act of forming or entertaining ideas. "Suicide Ideation" is a phrase used in psychology that means thinking about suicide. Looking for information about what might happen after death is a logical part of thinking about suicide, or about finding out about what might have happened to someone who killed themself. Some people read about the NDE because they would like to decide whether or not to kill themselves.  They want to know things like:

"Suicide" is a Loaded Word

I hesitate to use the word "suicide" because U.S. society views the actions associated with the word "suicide" as morally wrong. Hence the word "committed" in the phrase "committed suicide". It assumes a crime has been "committed". The word "suicide" has a negative connotation but the word "hero" does not have a negative connotation when applied to someone who dives on a grenade to save fellow soldiers. Likewise (according to the Bible) Jesus allowed himself to be captured and crucified but it is not thought of as a suicide because he was supposed to be doing it for the benefit of others. It's considered a footnote that his disciples and mother suffered tremendously by his death because the benefit to believers is supposed to be so much greater. The Bible doesn't mention suicide.

First things First: Are NDE's Real?

I have heard of efforts to verify the out-of-body aspect of NDEs in emergency or operating rooms by placing things that can be seen only by a ceiling-perspective. I have not seen the results of these studies. Unfortunately, only a study that confirms the out-of-body experience will make headlines. We'll probably never hear about any studies that don't find anything. There are many individuals claiming to have this kind of evidence, but there needs to be a study that does not rely on so much heresay. I have read many NDEs that have had living as well as dead relatives and pets in the visions, and where information gained during the experience (including predictions about the future) was just plain wrong.

The best study I have seen that had evidence for NDEs as objectively real events is Michael Sabom's "Recollections of Death". Even the esteemed skeptic Susan Blackmore said in reference to this study "We can only await further research" (Fall 1991 p.43 Skeptical Enquirer). That research has not been forth-coming.

Many people have made many mistakes by believing in things without any evidence simply because "it felt good" to believe in those things. To believe in NDEs as real at this time is not a scientifically legitimate perspective. To base important decisions (such as choosing to kill or not kill yourself) on unproven information is not wise.

I have come across several people who have had the out-of-body experience and did not think it was real and they didn't have any other feeling except a strong sense of peace. I have heard from others who have had more detailed experiences but they still wonder if it was real or not. The powerful NDEs were hear about are a biased sampling of the data: we hear mostly only about the NDEs from people who want to talk about them or think they are worth talking about. Of all the people I know in my hometown, I know of only 3 who have had an NDE. Two were from people who did not think it was anything more than something in their head. The third had the longest time of death and the deepest NDE with the strongest visions, but he also appears to have been the most emotionally affected; so much so that I can easily believe that his judgement about the reality of the experience is strongly biased. In other words, I think it might have just been in his head. However, I have read many NDEs that my intuition says "there's something to this." I love physics, but in some sense there seems to be an enormous amount of "truth" to NDEs. There is a coherence and matter-of-factness to them that I can't ignore.

Does it Matter if NDEs are Real?

Some NDErs I have met are not as concerned about the reality of the experience as they are about its effects on the NDEr. NDEs can at least open experiencers to the realities of their own emotions. Emotions are very real and very important. Nearly dying can be very effective at getting in tune with your emotions. The importance of the NDE could be that they are a window into the core of our emotions. The message from NDEs appears to be that the animal being at our core does not want to die. Evolution theory would agree, and in this sense it could be "wrong" to kill yourself.

OK, getting back to the question at hand....

Assumimg NDEs are real....

Scientifically speaking...
I saw an article about those surviving suicide jumps from the Bay Bridge. The number interviewed was not enough to be statistically significant, but their experiences did not appear different from near-deaths from other causes. Other authors have said the experiences are negative.  I have heard several reports of NDErs being told "suicide is a mistake". I haven't heard any NDErs say "Suicide is COOL!! Go for it!!" But it is pretty much inline with society's beliefs.

Evolutionarily speaking...
From an evolutionary viewpoint, you just can't kill yourself and it be the "right thing to do". But evolution doesn't have meaning or "right and wrong". It's just a process.

Closing

I think suicide can be right or wrong in the same way breaking a bottle can be a good or bad thing. If you want to use the NDE as the basis of your decision, then I have to say NDErs in the U.S. seem to generally say suicide is a bad idea. But I do not know if their opinion on the matter is any different from the average person in the U.S. or if they have exceptions to the rule like the terminally ill. I suspect Japanese NDErs would be perfectly OK with suicide in at least some instances.

I saw a comic strip depicting a rabbit pointing a gun to his head. It was humorous because we know rabbits (and nearly all other animals) do not kill themselves. They are not confused by the complexities of modern life. They are not emotionally strung out. The humor in the idea of a suicidal rabbit is not about rabbits. It's about us. But rabbits are not intelligent enough to view suicide as a way of escaping pain, or to use it as a way of helping others (as in the case of a hero or Jesus).

Footnote: 0.7% of the U.S. population dies by suicide. 0.5% die by homicide.

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