Life, Death, and Suicide

posted in: Blog, channeling, life and death | 4

A recent news article talked about a 51-year-old woman who was planning to kill herself last weekend. She has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As a Roman Catholic, she knows her church condemns suicide.

ALS is a progressive neurological ailment, nearly always fatal. One of our family members died from ALS years ago. It was, as you might imagine, difficult to watch him struggle and finally die years later.

Here are some of our random thoughts and words, over the years, about life, death, suicide, and euthanasia.Read more

Assisted Suicide: Dying with Dignity

posted in: Blog, channeling, life and death | 7

Now, as I turn 85…with my life closer to its end than its beginning, I wish to help give people dignity in dying….Dying people should have the right to choose how and when they leave Mother Earth. ~ Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Capetown, South Africa

 

peaceful-graveyard

 

When my son was growing up, one of his and my favorite pastimes was visiting graveyards, especially those where people among our family and friends were buried. It still is, even now that he has his own family.Read more

Is Life ALWAYS Worth Living? by John Cali and Spirit

posted in: Blog, channeling, life and death | 21

My work is done. Why wait? ~ Eastman Kodak founder George Eastman, in his suicide note written after long enduring intense pain from his degenerating spine.

George Eastman, 1854-1932George Eastman 1854-1932

You’ve probably heard about Brittany Maynard, the young woman with terminal brain cancer who decided to commit suicide earlier this week.

As I started writing this post my sister told me an elderly cousin, closing in on 100 years, had just died. She lived a good, long, and happy life.

Brittany, at the other end of the spectrum of life, was only 29.Read more

How Long Do You Want To Live and How Do You Want To Die? by John Cali and Spirit

Life_of_George_Washington,_DeathbedDeathbed of George Washington
Image by Junius Brutus Stearns

I recently read an article about the death of a 21-month-old baby girl in Texas. She’d fallen into her family’s swimming pool, was revived and rushed to the hospital.

The doctors, after many weeks of various medical procedures, decided she could not survive. She’d gone without oxygen too long, and her organs had shut down. Yet she was still alive.

Her parents begged the “authorities” to end her suffering. They refused. The family decided to remove her feeding tube because, in Texas, that was their only legal alternative.… Read more

Is Suicide Ever Justified? by John Cali

In our last blog post, Is The World Driving You Crazy?, we talked about a family murder-suicide. I know this is a tough subject for many folks.

Objections to suicide, including assisted suicide, range across the spectrum—religious, legal, spiritual, practical, and so on. It’s a contentious subject with widely varying and conflicting opinions.

Years ago, in a message I found very comforting, Spirit spoke of suicide. Read it here.

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Please share your thoughts with us below.

We welcome your comments and thoughtful opinions, whether you agree or disagree with us.Read more

The End of Life by John Cali

Last weekend around the dinner table, I was talking to some of my family about death. Not a subject most people want to sit around casually discussing at dinner. But death comes to us all, and we all think about it, at least now and then. Not necessarily in a somber, macabre way, but in simply acknowledging death is part of life.

Many years ago, I read the book Final Exit by Derek Humphry. As the book’s subtitle says, it’s about “the practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying.”… Read more

Suicide: A Solution? by John Cali

John Cali

A reader recently wrote us this letter:

“Have you published anything about suicide? A friend of mine is depressed, and he’s considering it. I think it’s foolish unless there is absolutely no hope, and that’s an extremely rare case at best.

“Are there occasions when suicide is the only solution?”

Here’s Spirit.

Spirit

We are delighted to offer you, for your consideration, our view of this often weighty subject.

Our reader asked if there are occasions when suicide is the only solution.… Read more