Suicide: Understand it in order to prevent it

(Part 2 and final) 

Problems, disappointments, sufferings and imagination of death as the end all are factors that lead many people to want to put an end to their existence. Understanding the immortality of the soul and reincarnation as a natural law offers a new understanding of life, showing that suicide does not solve anything.
 

Entering the spiritist view on the subject, we can put into play some other causes, which will expand considerably the understanding of the subject.

Kardec, when referring to suicide and madness in The Gospel According to Spiritism, says that "unbelief, this doubt about the future, the materialistic ideas, in short, are the main instigators of suicide: they produce the moral laxity" .

In which these claims Kardec? The basic concepts of Spiritism give support to their assertions, for we are taught that: 

ð         We are immortal spirits, created by God to the fullness of our expressions of intelligence and emotion;

ð          Live temporarily incarnated in a physical body;

ð        In leaving to live in this world, cross the border, fine, that separates us from the other world, the spiritual, which is our native land;

ð        The different experiences that we are part of our learning and the course corrections necessary. Hence, the idea of a just and merciful God, who always give us opportunities to move on in new attempts to overcome our mistakes;

ð          The physical body does not belong as an object that we have to our liking, but rather is a temporary concession that we must be accountable;

ð           Life is a succession of challenges that, once faced, in mature, encouraging us to new stages of learning;

ð          The pain, the suffering are natural elements that warn us and invite you to correct ourselves, so we can abandon the habit of blaming God for our misfortunes.  

Based on these teachings brought by the Superior Spirits, Kardec draw attention to the harmful effects of materialistic ideas and disbelief that generate the moral laxity which advises, in turn, abandons the fight against the problems and difficulties, leading to the suicidal act. If after death we will find nothing, what is the reason to endure the afflictions? 

We can then consider that there is, in principle, two causes that can induce the individual to self-destruct: a social, which is the cultivation of materialistic ideas a large contingent of people who share those ideas, and another individual, which is the person's own attitude on the challenges and struggles of life.

Another cause may also be added: the obsessive induction, ie the influence of a spirit, driven by revenge or other low feeling, which can tune in and engage his victim to the point of forcing it in the decision. This is sometimes so totally unconscious, depending on the stage of subjugation to which the person was conducted. What is not absent, of course, the relative responsibility of the obsessed. 

Deepening the vision spirit 

Coordinated Kardec in the 19th century, the systematization of the teachings of the spirits that contain elements of science, philosophy and ethical and moral guidance.

By distancing itself from traditional religions and not to commune with the ideas of materialistic science of his day, Spiritualism eliminated traces of morbidity and mystery surrounding the death.

Bringing death to the stage of life, demonstrating a rational and experimental (channeled) that the dead are still alive, it's no surprise that the supporters of this new way of thinking - the spirit - must see death differently.

Since death is presented in the works that underlie Spiritualism and those that complement each other?

In The Spirits’ Book is said that "death is only the destruction of the body," that wrap that covers the Spirit, another body, survives the destruction of the physical body. It is therefore in humans three elements: 1) an essence that is the Spirit, 2) the perispirit or spiritual body, and 3) the physical body, wears temporary, intended to allow us to stay on this planet for a limited time.

What the point of view purely organic is seen as a termination order, the spiritist viewpoint is seen as a transition between two dimensions of life. Hence, we can say that we die to reincarnate, as we leave the condition of disembodied spirits, and die back to leave, to abandon the condition of incarnated spirits. The fear of dying, curiously, there is much in the coming of the spiritual world, and in back there.

When we are born, we bring a schedule, a script to be fulfilled. And this script, as expected, with more or less precisely, the date of return.

If we can stay red during this period previously marked is another story. It is the fate that each of us will be to build along the path between the cradle and the grave. Through automatic writing of Chico Xavier, the Spirit Andre Luiz treated in more detail this issue.

A few get the condition of "complete" which, in the words of André Luiz, are those who complete the right time of life in the physical body. Rarer still are those who, having managed to complete the allotted time, even earn a little extra time, a survival. The most common is that before we return.

We return before we can be considered as "indirect suicide or unconscious," as happened to own André Luiz, according to his account in the book Astral City. In this case, the responsibility given to us will be less, according to the knowledge that we had when red or on behalf of other reasons why we anticipate the disembodied.

The notion of suicide is thus expanded, because the way we live in can also shorten life, which makes us responsible and subject to the consequences. What matters here is the awareness of the values of life and the importance of preserving it to fulfill our goals in the incarnation. Life after life is not a process of error and punishment, but it is voluntary and educational aware of the Spirit. 

The situation of suicide in the spirit world 

The spirit in literature has brought valuable information about the life of suicide beyond the grave.

The first set of reports about the spiritual condition of the bombers are in Heaven and Hell. As a reporter between the two worlds, Kardec interview nine disembodied spirits in this situation. We refer the reader to the work itself, because the lessons to be drawn are numerous.

In 1940, released The Martyrdom of Suicides of Almerindo Martins de Castro, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, a work that contains important information about the subject.

The most complete work, however, would be published only years later, in 1955. This is the book Memoirs of a Suicide, by Camilo Castelo Branco, automatic writing by Yvonne Pereira many years before, because the originals were finished in 1942. This literary monument has been an effective means of preventing suicide, it has literally saved many lives. The reading and study are more than recommended.

In this work, in all its rawness, presents the natural consequences of the shortening of life in the physical body. Because it is a story in first person, and in the case of a real case, the drama of interrupting life becomes painful. But it is a horror novel, and some even imagine when you pass the first two chapters, however, is in real life manual and how to live better. It is also a balm for the survivors to the hearts affected by this kind of death, because despite the suffering they experience suicidal at any time they are denied care and comfort, even though some of the refuse in the crisis of rebellion.

Finally, we have the family messages that come to us through books through automatic writing by Chico Xavier and other mediums respectable. The tone of these messages is the consolation that even the suicide bring under shelter of the highest spirits, to family and friends, giving news of the continuity of life after death and to report on the treatment to which they are subjected, as well as giving other details to facilitate and confirm their identification.

Many have found refuge and comfort in Spiritualism, either through the literature, is attending an institution spirit.

There are groups that spirit out only the work of assisting suicide, either through séances to serve them, either through your prayers and for those who may be affected by this act. The treatment of obsession, when this question is concerned, is a fundamental and effective therapy to ward off the effects of the invisible action of the obsessing spirit. Kardec drives this practice with clarity and detail in The Mediums’ Book. 

Collaborating in Prevention 

In a few moments of our lives we shall meet with people dealing with their problems and willing to seek relief in suicide or solution to them.

How should we proceed in these cases, which can range from a simple vent without consequence to the crowning act of suicide after being with the person?

The first advice is to share the case, where possible, with more people of trust, both or one of the parties, at least. Alone can not always identify ways of helping people in crisis. We will assess whether the case requires medical intervention or psychological, to recommend or provide specific treatment. (See table below.) 

In any case, however, if the person is unable to stay alone, someone that stands for a permanent shift, because the time of resetting the brain chemistry in such crises is 30 days, taking medication, explains the Dr. Alexandrina Meleiro, Psychiatrist, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo.

Tell the doctor, in an interview with Dr. Drauzio Varela: "Often we find patients with serious illnesses, in a difficult situation, saying that it is not worth living like this. Vale. When depression starts to improve with treatment and took the veil that covers their eyes, the solution appears. In the movie Philadelphia, there is a scene that struck me and I usually tell people. The protagonist is a patient with AIDS, at the time that these patients were very broken. At one point, he looks in the mirror and says, 'No problem without solution'. This is a profound truth. The solution exists, although sometimes not see it. It may not be the ideal, perfect, but it is possible at that time. If there is flexibility to accept it as it stands, we see that life is always worth it."  

Abel Sidney is a writer and teacher. He participates in the Spiritist movement in Porto Velho in Roraima. He is the author of Lessons from a Suicide: a study of the classic Memoirs of a Suicide "and maintains a blog on the Internet, the blog Suicide: learn to prevent: www.conhecerparaprevenir.blogspot.com.