-
"…There are many divergent opinions as to the seriousness
of an action of this kind. In thinking this over you
must remember that it is against every instinct of
physical life to wish to give it up. In the minds of
some it is regarded as a crime; to others it appears
as a catastrophe, in the sense that life should have
proved too difficult.
-
"The only way in which I can explain to you the nature
of so-called suicide is to tell you what happens when
the spirit is so summarily released.
-
"I am not referring to those whose minds have been
damaged either directly or indirectly by others or
by circumstances. I am dealing with the lonely souls,
those who have found the hill too steep, and I want
you to understand that although at the time the mind
may be unhinged by grief or by physical suffering,
such as these cannot be classed among those you call
insane.
-
"Acts of suicide are divided sharply into two categories.
On the one hand, the idea will have long found a hold
on the physical mind, and if it is not expelled, at
last it gains such a powerful hold that other thoughts
are com-pletely swamped by it. The second is in the
nature rather of a sudden revolt or a feeling of dyna-mical
despair when, for that moment, everything else has
been stunned by the sense of struggling against over-whelming
odds.
-
"You all know that certain experi-ences have a way
of undermining not only the physical resources of the
person concerned but still more so the central nervous
system which controls that person's life. It is indeed
a sad state for anyone to be in, and it is terribly
sad for us to think that over the months and even years
certain souls are allowed to struggle on often unaided
by their companions upon earth.
-
"If you could look into the hearts and minds of countless
thousands of your fellow men today, you would see that
during certain periods of their lives they lived and
had their being in a state of isolation.
-
"With regard to those who act on impulse, I think you
will find that they are souls who, for the most part,
have been unprepared for the discipline of life. You
see, you require practice to suffer! It is a point
that is constantly overlooked by psychologists and
by your medical men today. In order to come through
great physical suffering or mental strain successfully,
you need practice.
-
"It is a dreadful thing to say, from the outside point
of view, but not from the inner spiritual point of
view! In the case of the impulsive the preparation
for suffering was not there, not only from the spiritual
aspect but even from the elementary physical aspect
as well.
-
"Now to go one step further: When the spirit is so
suddenly released you can understand that a great sense
of shock is felt and the physical experi-ences undertaken
are not interfered with, except to the extent that
the protection of the body has been thrown aside.
-
"In many cases, those who have taken the law into their
own hands in this way very soon come to their senses,
as it were, and in spite of the adverse position into
which they have forced themselves, they set to work
anew and it should not be necessary for me to say that
all the help that can be imagined is there at their
disposal.
-
"But I want you to try to grasp if you can the terrible
damage which such an act does to the struggling soul
within.
-
"You must remember that no spirit enters on the physical
stage without understanding fully all that it is going
to mean, and yet when trouble comes and for a time
the shadows block out the vision of God's protecting
care, they throw aside their most valuable tool - the
human body.
-
"The earth experiences are not dispensed with but they
have to be worked out under conditions far more difficult
still. There is no act that anyone can commit - short
of taking the life of another - that can have so retarding
an effect on the individual soul.
-
"Those who have sought to shut the door on physical
life call forth the compassion of everyone; it is a
double compassion: firstly because such as these heroically
took upon themselves more than they found they were
able to grapple with, and the greater com-passion because,
by their act, they have hindered the progress which
they had so deeply at heart when they entered into
the body of flesh.
-
"Yet remember that an hour of despair, an hour of darkness
from God does not change a man or woman's character,
they are what they were before except for the one retrograde
step. You cannot wipe out what has been; you cannot
overlook the struggles and the victories, and the rising
up after many failures. All this stands and so I would
impress upon you that these, by reason of their knowledge
of such anguish, can set to work almost at once to
relieve the sorrows of others, and in so doing the
strength which was missing in themselves can be made
good.
-
"Pray for those who are physically alone and friendless,
and then pray for those who, shut up in the isolation
of their inability to communicate their feelings to
others, are experiencing much which will not come your
way during the earth stage.
-
"I want to leave in your minds two things of great
importance. First, that the damage in regard to the
progress of the spirit is of a very serious character
when the physical body is thrown aside by the person
to whom it belongs.
-
"And then, as a contrast to that, the wonderful hope
in the thought that even so such are gathered close
under the wings of Divine Love; and although they cannot escape the experiences from which
they long to separate themselves, yet in carrying on the burden under slightly different
condi-tions they can do God's work and be used by Him
to help others.
-
"Side by side you get the mistake and the rectification
of that mistake by the Father. I want you to think
it over in quietness, to sift the different points
which I have tried to bring out and, above all, to
shoulder your responsibilities and promise yourselves
- that greater, nobler self within - that by your prayers
and your influence you will try to prevent others from
making this great mistake…"
