Suicide as Thought-Crime
I wonder if the prohibition on suicide is about those whose action would be prohibited so much as it is about disturbing a consensus; suicide as heresy. Heresy to the idea that the strength it takes to continue with life sometimes is a well-placed strength. Heresy to the idea that life is worthwhile and should continue until a natural end; illness or infirmity. I detect undertones of this idea of heresy in every discussion I see after someone suicides; people fear that suicide will come to be accepted, perhaps they fear that they will accept it; this taboo is something present in many societies as a guard against impulsivity, a fence that nontheless blocks deliberate and careful choice as much as whim. We may never forget forever that we have the ability to do it, and that knowledge may even help those of us who have broken the taboo avoid the urge to do it at time, but the taboo and ritual condemnation of the act as weak help make it complicated enough to delay it again.
Perhaps.