Choosing Death
Sir Edward Downes, 85, a world-renowned British orchestra conductor, was going blind and deaf, and his wife, 74, was painfully dying of cancer. They decided to end their lives, together, peacefully, painlessly and safely in a clinic in Switzerland.
The high profile double suicide has sparked conversation and opinion regarding the sensitive issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. On one hand, there is the argument for the personal liberty of an individual living in a free society, free to make their own decisions about life, and therefore death. On the other hand, there is the "slippery slope" argument that suicide is not a right, and that the normalization of assisted suicide would have perilous implications for the mentally ill.
Creative Commons Image: "Flowers on Casket" by Phil Scoville on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.
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- 7-27-09
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Outside of Eden
I always thought that the natural way to go would be to just get very tired and weak and feel the pressing need to just lie down near a tree ... and then pass away.
Animals in the wild, who have no contact with human beings, live 98% of their life at full capacity {in general}... only 2% entropy
They have only 5 or six known diseases ... none of which are degenerative. {modern man has thousands of named dis-eased states ... many degenerative}
They do not experience large percentages of their lives gradually weakening ... due to inapropriate behavior in relation to their environment {instinctual prowess}
In the few societies left that boast a high per centage of "centarians" {100 yrs of age}Hunzakuts of Pakistan ... Villabamba people of Equador ...
These people remain highly physically functioning into the 80's ... no retirement ... ever ... til down to that last few per cent.
Imagining farming till age 88 ... then start getting a little tired ... but still no degerative diseases
Of course their natural and indigenous occupation/life styles are not bothersome or stressful... but complimentary to their inherent state of "recreational pleasure"
Yet if one has contacted an unnatural diseased state ... with unnatural levels of "non-providential pain" { our own body chemistry has enough natural buffers to withstand the normal range of providential stress - adrenaline- dopamine etc} ... well who can say how that will drive the mind.
How many ways ... little and large ... do we try and escape the self-caused stress by unnatural living
If the "law makers" are not able to promote and support "only" indigeous, organic, natural living ... then how can they prosecute the consequential scapegoat reactions to what they themselves perpetuate
Feutal Japan