Every year, 10th of September is observed as the World Suicide Prevention Day worldwide.
As of 2011, an estimated one million people per year die by suicide or “a death every 40 seconds or about 3,000 every day.” According to WHO there are twenty people who have a failed suicide attempt for every one that is successful, at a rate approximately one every three seconds.
“There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. And then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking in mirrors.”
― Tennessee Williams
These lines poetically freeze-frame the moments before the suicide but the suicide has many aspects beyond the realm of societal maze. Some people quit life which means living a lifeless life, and some quit the body which means dying with or without cause. Sometimes, the soul takes both paths at once to leap into the other side. We know that when we are not loved enough, there is something which cannot be fixed. No matter how much purest and kindest souls are we but there is that one part in us all that cannot be healed. We carry this unhealed part, its stench and presence wrenches us within ceaselessly.
We live in a society where suicide is seen as a sign of utter weakness and living a fake suppressed life as a chivalrous act. Both are the product of self-ignorance and lack of thirst for deeper meaning of life.
On many occasions I notice that my heart aches when I look out at those, who are attending my sessions because I bring these people to their own shadows and light aspects of themselves.
The process is not easy as it triggers those hidden unhealed piercing pieces both in me and them. We live in a skin which should have been shed long ago but with each passing day, we stick to it harder just because we have no awareness what kind of space we would be in after that. There are myriad and disturbing reasons for the suicides that take places.
I heard of people who committed suicide because their favorite celebrity died or they were playing an online game or even they were denied to watch television and other bizarre or petty reasons. The immediate cause for taking the extreme step could be deceptive.
No one knows what those deeper layers of minds have been storing since the beginning of that individual. How much loved they felt as a child, how much protected and assured they felt about life and how much calm and serene they were from within since the first breath of life. No one knows.
The act of committing suicide must not be viewed from the perspective of courage or lack of it. If you look at closely then you will find that it is all about the break-down, after an extensive and intense period of suppression. It is due to an over-flow of pain and powerlessness. It is actually effect of an outburst of ever growing helplessness and long-buried trauma in utter darkness of ignorance.
Suicide is a contraction of consciousness where you see a limited spectrum of options.
The awareness is so shrunk that you cannot step forward, backward or even sideways to have a total and deeper view of life. You just jump out.
A shrunk consciousness cannot fathom the range of possibilities life actually offers. We only focus on one small part of this big picture and refuse to expand.
We forget that no one ever goes anywhere. There is no escape in universe. We just jump from one illusion to another.
Without awareness of self how can you erase self?
That means no one ever erased their existence on Earth. There was never a suicide on Earth. They were jumps only. From one impression to another. You judged your life and jumped out. You dropped just the physical body and not life. Life continues. An unconscious mind hopped into another dimension and will lead another unconscious journey.
Spirituality is about recognizing what is beyond the physical dimension. To recognize what is beyond the physical dimension, you must be conscious instead of unconscious of it. For this reason consciousness is the cornerstone of spirituality. As a fragment of source consciousness, you are a mirror of the greater universe. This means consciousness is not about “going out” it’s about “going in”. It is inevitable that you will become conscious of yourself eventually. But remember consciousness is not comfortable. It doesn’t feel good to see things about ourselves that we don’t want to see. It doesn’t feel good to recognize truths that we don’t want to be true. It will give you the moment of urgency to quit the life. But again there is no Law of Escapism in the universe. You continue to exist, no matter in what form. The learning goes on.
Suicide is not the end; it is just a pause in physical expression of your being. Your being still exists and so called pain too. Many people get triggered by the news of suicides and explode themselves by criticizing and calling it as cowardly act. These judgments are the outcome of ignorance or again lack of self-awareness. In a way, people who commit suicide and people who label suicide as coward’s act are both standing on the same level. Both are ignorant enough to avoid the truth that soul chooses her own life path, life lessons, all the major events and even exit point (death); long before coming on Earth.
Perhaps at soul level, you thought you could handle a greater intensity of a lesson than you actually experienced. Or maybe you yourself chose to exit the world by harming own physical body, or maybe you created a series of negative decisions that brought you to a point of paralysis and despair, which is called depression. No matter what, these are all learning experiences, and even the next choice – which can be suicide. Suicide is not a sin but yet another selection in your eternal storyline.
It is a choice of soul which was made before even the birth. However, human beings on Earth live under the law of duality and hence they see everything in the light of right and wrong, good and evil or black and white. They are so obsessed by the game of judgments and opinions that there is no courage in many to rise above the judgments and see the higher truths. Many of them even do not carry this thirst to see the truth. They are happy playing and grappling in earth-bound opinions, judgments and belief games. However, it is their “choice”.
Crossing oneself over without the support of any external support may be a beautiful event in the perspective of soul, however lower self does it mostly in pain. You die in an accident, disease or suicide; death is never a failure. It is never a premature exit. It is just the logical mind of person thinks that he has reached the end of the rope and drops the body. Knowing little that only stage will be changed but narrative will be the same. After suicide, some souls grapple in darkness for a while, some cross over with the support of their divine guides and some instantly receive the glimpse of truth; but growth never ends. Universe is too benevolent to deny growth to any being. Even your unhealed consciousness and limited understanding is also not a failure, it is just a part of process.
In ancient times, after attaining a certain amount of self-realization, spiritual seekers used to disintegrate their body at their will and prepare themselves for the next journey. It is known as “samadhi” as well. No one can see these acts as “suicide” just because of the level of self-awareness in the person. Not only suicide, but the level of ignorance and unhealed awareness in human realm is the trouble.
Countless pieces of unhealed memories break down in the form of suicide. It is the utter moment of nakedness wrapped in despair. There can be innumerable explanations, complex and interrelated contributing factors for suicide but we must always aim for highest and deepest truth.
Opinions and criticism can bring only momentary satisfaction to our ego but highest truth brings expansion and healing. Prevention of suicide must begin with the awareness of self, non-judgment, healing of buried aspects, free-flowing compassion and higher wisdom in all layers of human consciousness.
We have a spiritual contract to be on this Earth school for a limited period of time. We are here to learn certain lessons so our souls can evolve and proceed to next level. Suicide is a label invented from a narrow point of view and Earth needs more and more people who are open and willing to see deeper meaning of life, death, healing and evolution. There should also be prevention of ignorance, prevention of depression, prevention of suppression of emotional imbalances, prevention of fake lives, prevention of obsession with judgments and for that matter, prevention of a sleeping society who is not ready to be awakened to highest truth about soul and it’s journey. We need counselors and healers who themselves have seen the glimpse of truth and can operate from the grounds of compassion and not societal judgement.
We come on Earth to go through a variety of contrasting experiences, not just pleasant ones. Life is a precious opportunity and we must make best use of it by gaining the knowledge about self; only knowledge about self can cultivate the enormous courage within to face life lessons and experience them with equanimity.
Romshri Ashesh
Founder of Awakening Love Academy
For Spiritual Scientific Education
www.awakeninglove.co