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Janet posted, in part: > > "suicide > > is a not a failure of the individual > > but rather of the system" > > > I would sure like to understand a bit more about the thought behind the above observation. On the face of it, I would agree with Mary Ann, though I'm not sure it is accurate to call the concept a part of New Age thinking (a very nebulous term). While I think of the "it's always someone or some thing else's fault," attitude as a form of spiritual stagnation, there is also something to the notion that we are on this journey together, as in "No man is an island." But responsibility? That goes no farther than my own consciousness, for I came here with free will and am solely responsible for the choices I make, including the choice to continue growing in positive ways no matter what my physical path involves, or to end this particular part of the journey. Either way, I believe today, I neither end my existence or, very likely, the experience of pain if my suicide is mired in self pity. I do not rule out the concept of suicide as an act of altruism, however, and this would be distinctly different. What, to me, is particularly sad is the heaping on of guilt that occurs when someone makes the choice to exit. We get mad at the suicide, his family memebers feel guilty as though they were responsible, a regular guilt party for all concerned; and ultimately that is the best reason for me to have left those ideas behind a couple months after diagnosis, for guilt sucks and I want no part of creating it or experiencing it today. Why? Because, in the words not my own, "it cuts me off from the sunlight of the spirit." Love Chuck