Is Suicide a Sin or an Act of Bravery?

nowhere to go. The life hereafter is held up to us as a relief from the “ordeal” of this life, when the truth is that this life is meant to have one major challenge. Once we have overcome this one challenge, we are free to experience the joy and love of this existence. Our spiritual guides and the angels and God are there to help us, if only we would allow them to do so.

I now understand that where a person ends his own existence here, it is probably the bravest thing they ever do. They understand the judgement that will come from the society they live in and the guilt and pain that their families will experience, but the pain of their existence outweighs all the concerns they have about those around them.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote a book called On Death and Dying in which she describes the different stages of grieving. There is a point in the grieving process where a person comes out of a depression and everyone heaves a sigh of relief because they show interest in the world around them again.

For a suicidal person that is the most vulnerable time, because the person then has the energy to end his own existence. By the time the person gets to this point, they are desperate and very alone. This is a frame of mind that none of us can change in another person. All we can do is keep our judgement to ourselves and love the person. We cannot determine the path of anyone else. We can only love one another unconditionally.

If you are reading this and thinking of ending your life, think about this:

There is a legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of Passage. The youth’s father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He must sit in the same space all night and not remove the blindfold until the sun comes out the next morning. No matter what happens, he is not allowed to cry out for help to anyone.

Of course the boy is terrified. The night sound carries far and he can hear many strange and frightening noises. The wind feels eerie at night and the rustling of the leaves is sinister.

But the boy knows that the only way he could become a man is to sit through the night with the blindfold on, no matter what happens.

In the morning when the sun rises, the boy finally removes the blindfold and discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him. The boy then discovers that the father had been on watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

The boy is not allowed to tell the other boys of this experience, because each boy must come into manhood on his own. Once he survives the night, he is a man.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we are not aware of it, God is watching over us, sitting beside us and at times carrying us. When the dark night of the soul comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him. Just because you can’t see God, doesn’t mean He is not there.

Blessings and Light and above all, Love to you.

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