the_seeker wrote on Jul 15th, 2007 at 7:40pm:this is just my personal opinion - i think the term "suicide" is much more murky than people think....
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...one last thing - how could someone be pro-abortion but anti-suicide? how could it be right to deny a baby life, but wrong to deny your own life?
Hi Seeker,
I agree with much of what you have said. I believe I am "qualified" to speak to your last question.
First of all, find me a person who is "pro" abortion. I don't believe you will.
I don't believe there are circumstances in which killing is right...ever. It is not the "highest" good, in my opinion. Great spiritual teachers emphasize mercy, in all situations.
However, that being said, those who "appear" to be "pro" abortion are often simply ignorant or afraid. And there are circumstances in which there appears to be no better alternative. Suicide is the same, no matter what the "cause," in my opinion.
When I say "ignorant" I do not mean it as an insult. Ignorance, from what I am presently studying, is simply part of the human condition. When we realize that all people do the best they can, from where they are, and when we are able to keep this thought in our minds, we find that tolerance is the only answer.
It strengthens our characters to learn tolerance, and it is only possible to learn this by interacting in circumstances that we find difficult. Otherwise, we simply do not understand.
I speak from personal experience when I say that tolerance is a very subtle thing. I am not sure the lesson is ever completely learned, and life becomes unbearable when we do not open our hearts to others. The heart will keep crying out for this tolerance...
No one can give it to us. We must reach inside ourselves to find it.
love, blink