Live Or Die without Pain?
Do you need assistance?
According to Buddhism, life is suffering, but if you get rid of your desires, suffering stops and you can reach a state of perfection that is in harmony with the Universe.
Of course, in order to set out on your path to Perfection, you need to desire for it, meaning that your path will be painful until you reach perfection. Dying is not an option, because you will keep reincarnating until you reach your destination.
It is still a question if painlessness (which is supposed to indicate perfection), or even “perfection” going to make you happy or at least satisfied with your life? If yes, please, advise the reader: what’s the point?
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While some people want to live without pain, others are content with the idea of dying painlessly. In order to assure such a feat, one must find a way. Assisted suicide is claimed to be one of them.
I am familiar with pain that makes you lose consciousness or is so incapacitating that you cannot think for yourself anymore. Once you cannot even think because of the pain, what’s the point in being alive?
According to Christianity, both Evil and suffering are mysteries; too much for the human mind to conceive…
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The justification for “painless death” comes from anesthesia. Indeed, people who wake up after surgery, don’t remember feeling pain during the procedure.
There is no dignity in dying. Humans crap themselves, puke up their last meals with blood, bleed to death through their orifices, or choke on the fluid accumulating in their lungs.
“Assisted suicide” is advertised as a way of dying in dignity.” In Canada, doctors are encouraged or even mandated to ask their “patients” to consider the option. The conditions are also lenient enough for you to be accepted in the last program of your life, even if only your hearing is impaired!
https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-toronto-7c631558a457188d2bd2b5cfd360a867
Where is the “dignity” in all this? You press a button and croak (usually means you choke to death, but won’t be able to say or do anything to stop the process even if you are still half conscious), but someone will still have to clean up after you! Or their dignity doesn’t count, I guess…
Human dignity must precede death. Only life can be dignified…
What is more dignified, anyway? To die as human beings have always done or to kick the bucket as a poisoned rat, who is still trying to get away from the sinking ship? Yes, it is humbling, if not humiliating, either way.
Do you really want to go through the most important moment of your life since birth unconscious? Can you imagine that even preparing for such an act can be actually painless?
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Everybody is most welcome to commit suicide. I’ve never heard of a man, who hanged himself coming back from the dead, and it’s probably as fast as anything else... I am personally against suicide, but as long as it is available, some people will select it. To add insult to injury, “assisted” suicide cannot be regulated enough to avoid abuse.
Even considering suicide can result in tunnel vision or, as the ancients used to say, a form of “demonic possession.” In ancient Rome, at one point, rhetors on the Forum started advocating suicide. “It’s easy, fast, mostly painless, and you are on your way to Elysium!” After tens of thousands of people started to commit suicide, the Emperor had to issue an edict to prohibit public speakers from propagating suicide.
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Is it still possible that some of those, who have gone through life without deciding how to live, want to remain oblivious of dying, too?
I am not going to pass judgment here.
My problem is not with dying. How does one know that (s)he has ever lived?
Euthanasia means “good death.” How can good death materialize without a life lived well before it?
Very thoughtful. I had a sister who hanged herself who asked to be "put down" but that wasn't accessible then. The reason she got to that point is from abuse from the system, particularly the mental abuse system (psychiatry.) So it was pretty much their fault that most of her adult life was constant suffering but when she wanted the final "dose" they weren't there for her. I know SO many people who have relatives and friends who have done it too. It seems like it was already an epidemic. Thanks for asking the provocative questions. In my opinion, the entire medical mafia is centered on pharma assisted suicide - some just take longer than others. IMO the system murdered my mother, father and drove my sister to do it for them and just recently my brother through the death vax.
After reading & digesting Ray's article & reader's comments l have waited 2 days to reply. And l'm still not sure l should but l think my real-life experiences can maybe be helpful. If only to one person. Because l know of what l speak.
I am a retired Registered Nurse with 40 years of proffessional experience in many different settings (including psychiatry & hospice). I graduated from a world renowned county hospital nursing program in Miami, Florida.
I also owned & operated a livestock farm for 12 years when l took a hiatus from my nursing career.
The point is, l have been present during the dying & deaths of MANY human-beings as well as animals. I know of what l speak.
l was at the bedside of my mother who was terminally ill with cancer. She was alert & oriented & pain free. Suddenly she said "This disease is a bitch!" & blinked her eyes & was dead.
Now my mother's death was unusual. That is the one & only time l have observed a person expire like that.
What l want to say is....barring a violent, traumatic death (car accident, drowning, death by stabbing/gunshot, fall from at rooftop, etc) the deaths l have witnessed are a slow "fading" of the biological organism. In both people & animals. Body functions slow down. Appetite disappears. Sleeping & dozing increase. Periods of alertness & awareness diminish. Often control of bowel & bladder is lost. Breathing becomes slower & slower until it ceases. Then the heart stops beating. That is what occurs 99% of the time. It really is not awful. Honest.
Of course, each death is unique (as each organism is unique). Some deaths are painless. Some have horrible pain but in the hospital setting & in hospice settings (be it in a facility or the person's home enviornment) the pain is always easily managed. Or at least it used to be!
Granted, l have been retired for 16 years so l can't speak to the current state of affairs that is now happening in hospitals & various other facilities. Especially in the covidian-era climate.
But death comes to us all. And we all experience physical pain from the moment we are born in one form or another. Pain during the dying process, if managed appropriately by an honorable practioner, can be significantly minimized. And generally there is no pain when an organic organism goes through the dying process. At least by all observable outward signs & symptoms. Which cannot be missed. And by the verbalizations of those that are still able to communicate.
Ray, the tragic story you told about the elderly lady dying in obvious gruesome pain is terribly sad. And was so unnecessary. It could have been avoided if she had had a sympathetic, knowledgeable practitioner there to help her get through her last days. Or if there had been someone with her who had a knowledge of natural pain relieving herbs & tonics as was done in days past before alleopathic medicine came into existence.
Most people & animals do not lie there howling & writhing in pain & agony for days before they finally expire. Hopefully, caring folks will be in attendance to keep the dying person clean & dry. To offer sips of cool water if it can be tolerated. A cool washrag to the forehead. And appropriate pain relief if needed.
Dying with dignity can be achieved. Really & truly.
Before l close, l would like to also say....l do feel that death in our Western culture in the last 50 years or so has become a taboo subject. Where the average person used to expire at home in their bed surrounded by loved ones it has now become a sterile, lonely event that is hidden behind closed doors in a barren room in a nursing home or hospital. In my opinion, it is truly unfortunate that it has come to this. Death is part of life. None of us come out of this world alive in the physical realm....not one of us! We should not fear death if we have lived our lives well. To the best of our ability.
As far as the insane elite who think they are going to live on forever in the "cloud"....well, that's another story for another day....it is my sincere hope that they all burn in hell.