Image Credit: Informed Health
It is illegal to take one’s own life, in Sri Lanka. And in addition to the legal blocks, the cultural stigma against suicide is extended to the idea of ‘death with dignity’ or death which is chosen by an individual. It is not sanctioned by the State - all the major religions practised in Sri Lanka uphold doctrines which guide adherents to hold on, and trust that the Divine Creator God, by whatever name we call Him, knows better than we do, or that the suffering a person undergoes in life in purposeful, is connected to our karmic burden, and has a limit. ‘This too will pass’ is a mantra we are taught, all our lives.
http://graduate.sjp.ac.lk/icma/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/iCMA_abstract_2015_P120.pdf
In Australia, assisted death is becoming legalized, under certain conditions, including incurable health conditions, and proof that the individual seeks death with dignity, and not just an ‘easy way out’, on a difficult day. This is perfectly in keeping with the secular and progressive values of Australia, which respects the rights of individuals over the compliance to community beliefs which characterize traditional South Asian societies.
Life is certainly not meant to be easy, as one famous Australian politician once said:
Malcolm Fraser: Life wasn't meant to be easy
Why life wasn't meant to be easy
But the degree of suffering experienced by people is also not equal: chronic illness, constant physical pain, and no win situations which have no solution and no remedy affect the quality of life we experience. The last few years in particular, with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic five years ago, and the stresses and disruptions subsequently endured by the global citizenry - universally but differentially, by all of us - have highlighted this. Many people felt acute dissatisfaction with their working and living conditions, and have now started actively seeking their own happiness, even if that has involved risking unemployment or divorce or financial instability or other kinds of hardship, in the short term.
It’s necessary, in my opinion, for each person to ask themselves the big question several times, in their life: Is my life worth living? Not just is Life worth living? But is my unique individual life, as it is now, this moment, meaningful and worthwhile? And to be honest, sometimes the answer to that question is: No. What the individual does, after coming to this realisation, is very important. Usually, the feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction that prompt re-evaluation is caused by a specific situation or sometimes concurrent compounded issues, each of which has both an immediate remedy and a long term solution. Compounded issues can cause overwhelm.
Euthanasia is never going to be a solution for any problem that can be solved by a better approach, or a hard decision that needs to be taken which leads to a better life. Many difficult situations can be well managed, to a point where the problems they cause are not impacting us on a daily basis, and are effectively pushed back, allowing us to progress on a more positive path. It is important not to give up too soon.
Often our feelings cloud the ability we have to objectively weigh up the value of our lives. These feelings are transient, so acting on them in a way we cannot return from is a waste of our potential for happiness. To understand the difference between how we feel and what is really happening in our lives, we need to be able to de-stigmatize our less positive emotions, and not suppress them. By seeing them as signs that we can recalibrate our lives, and not feelings to be ashamed of, we can use them positively.
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/111127/Plus/plus_17.html
Democracy includes the ideas of pluralism, diversity and inclusion, of tolerance of the opinions and beliefs of others. In a modern progressive democracy, the dictates of cultural tradition would be questioned, and at times even challenged, if they interfere with the rights of an individual to act in accordance with their own wishes, as long as these actions do not adversely impact the society as a whole.
Within the framework of the law of the land, our rights and responsibilities create lines which are demarcated both formally and informally. Sri Lanka is a society which can be very traditional, conventional and conformist, and like many South Asian societies, expects people to suppress and repress their pursuit and exercise of individual freedoms for the benefit of the wider community.
Marriages are arranged, pressure is put on young people at every stage to adhere to their parents’ wishes in practically every area of life, from birth through education, to the gaining of qualifications, to choice of job, to marriage. Many people wonder if they are living their own lives, or the lives shaped for them by others. However, when it comes to the end of life, the right to die with dignity, if that is our choice, should surely not be interfered with.
The unexamined life is not worth living. This is well known:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_unexamined_life_is_not_worth_living
But the pace and business of life today makes it difficult to conduct these self examinations of our life at all, let alone regularly. I suggest that the traditional Biblical three score and ten years of a lifespan allotted to human beings is a wise one, encompassing the seasons of possibility we all potentially experience, from youth to maturity, and then peak wisdom.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34876119/
It is the challenge of our lives as human beings that, as we grow in intellectual and emotional wisdom and life experience, our bodies naturally deteriorate and weaken, as we age. The latter part of our lives is more likely to include serious health issues.
The quality of life encompasses far more than just physical survival. Human dignity includes safety, respect, cleanliness, kindness, joy, growth and the capacity to be supported in independence as long as possible. This becomes more important as we become more vulnerable.
In Western culture, individualistic and progressive, an individual’s life stages are defined in more material terms. We are born into a family within a social system, we become a legal adult aged about 18, we study or train for a profession, we become qualified, we start earning, and we build a family and work until we retire. There is only one life, according to Christian precepts, and this is it. And the value of our life is usually measured by what we earn, and the peak of our life is viewed as our retirement from work.
In the South Asian traditions, we are a student, and then a householder. But once our children are growing up, our life opens up rather than shuts down: we start to consider our spiritual journey. We step back from the hurry and the stress of our action-oriented working life, and we develop our inner and more contemplative life, in mindful preparation for the next birth. We work through our residual karma, to try and liberate our spirit, so that when our body ceases to function, we will be free of its limits and restrictions.
With the body we are allocated at birth comes the attachments that go with it. The facial features, the genetic attributes, the predispositions to good or bad health, the skin colour, the ethnic identity, even the cultural identity, are the externalised keys which turn in us to activate our actions. When we progress to the later stages of life, we realize that so many of these fiercely contested aspects of our identities are not that significant.
What matters is how we have conducted ourselves, and how we have played the hand we have been dealt. The content of our Highlights Reel looks different, through a less material and more spiritual frame.
If we are honest, we will recognise that the odds are in our favour in the early part of our life. Vitality, energy, optimism, egoism and survivalism all motivate us to build ourselves and the shape of our lives according to our ambitions.
We have, through the successful utilization of modern medicine, increased the years of our prime by 15-20 years, in the post Industrialization era, from ages 35-55. But we should not let this success make us feel all powerful and immune from the inevitable limits of our mortality. Because it is in this earlier era of life, while still compos mentis, that we make the choices about our life’s overall worth and value, and the legacy we leave.
As the odds start to shift against us, it is important that we realize that death with dignity is one every person would ideally prefer: at a time and a place of our choice; and as an action authorised and respected by the jurisdiction in which we live.
http://graduate.sjp.ac.lk/icma/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/iCMA_abstract_2015_P120.pdf
In Australia, assisted death is becoming legalized, under certain conditions, including incurable health conditions, and proof that the individual seeks death with dignity, and not just an ‘easy way out’, on a difficult day. This is perfectly in keeping with the secular and progressive values of Australia, which respects the rights of individuals over the compliance to community beliefs which characterize traditional South Asian societies.
Life is certainly not meant to be easy, as one famous Australian politician once said:
Malcolm Fraser: Life wasn't meant to be easy
Why life wasn't meant to be easy
But the degree of suffering experienced by people is also not equal: chronic illness, constant physical pain, and no win situations which have no solution and no remedy affect the quality of life we experience. The last few years in particular, with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic five years ago, and the stresses and disruptions subsequently endured by the global citizenry - universally but differentially, by all of us - have highlighted this. Many people felt acute dissatisfaction with their working and living conditions, and have now started actively seeking their own happiness, even if that has involved risking unemployment or divorce or financial instability or other kinds of hardship, in the short term.
It’s necessary, in my opinion, for each person to ask themselves the big question several times, in their life: Is my life worth living? Not just is Life worth living? But is my unique individual life, as it is now, this moment, meaningful and worthwhile? And to be honest, sometimes the answer to that question is: No. What the individual does, after coming to this realisation, is very important. Usually, the feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction that prompt re-evaluation is caused by a specific situation or sometimes concurrent compounded issues, each of which has both an immediate remedy and a long term solution. Compounded issues can cause overwhelm.
Euthanasia is never going to be a solution for any problem that can be solved by a better approach, or a hard decision that needs to be taken which leads to a better life. Many difficult situations can be well managed, to a point where the problems they cause are not impacting us on a daily basis, and are effectively pushed back, allowing us to progress on a more positive path. It is important not to give up too soon.
Often our feelings cloud the ability we have to objectively weigh up the value of our lives. These feelings are transient, so acting on them in a way we cannot return from is a waste of our potential for happiness. To understand the difference between how we feel and what is really happening in our lives, we need to be able to de-stigmatize our less positive emotions, and not suppress them. By seeing them as signs that we can recalibrate our lives, and not feelings to be ashamed of, we can use them positively.
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/111127/Plus/plus_17.html
Democracy includes the ideas of pluralism, diversity and inclusion, of tolerance of the opinions and beliefs of others. In a modern progressive democracy, the dictates of cultural tradition would be questioned, and at times even challenged, if they interfere with the rights of an individual to act in accordance with their own wishes, as long as these actions do not adversely impact the society as a whole.
Within the framework of the law of the land, our rights and responsibilities create lines which are demarcated both formally and informally. Sri Lanka is a society which can be very traditional, conventional and conformist, and like many South Asian societies, expects people to suppress and repress their pursuit and exercise of individual freedoms for the benefit of the wider community.
Marriages are arranged, pressure is put on young people at every stage to adhere to their parents’ wishes in practically every area of life, from birth through education, to the gaining of qualifications, to choice of job, to marriage. Many people wonder if they are living their own lives, or the lives shaped for them by others. However, when it comes to the end of life, the right to die with dignity, if that is our choice, should surely not be interfered with.
The unexamined life is not worth living. This is well known:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_unexamined_life_is_not_worth_living
But the pace and business of life today makes it difficult to conduct these self examinations of our life at all, let alone regularly. I suggest that the traditional Biblical three score and ten years of a lifespan allotted to human beings is a wise one, encompassing the seasons of possibility we all potentially experience, from youth to maturity, and then peak wisdom.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34876119/
It is the challenge of our lives as human beings that, as we grow in intellectual and emotional wisdom and life experience, our bodies naturally deteriorate and weaken, as we age. The latter part of our lives is more likely to include serious health issues.
The quality of life encompasses far more than just physical survival. Human dignity includes safety, respect, cleanliness, kindness, joy, growth and the capacity to be supported in independence as long as possible. This becomes more important as we become more vulnerable.
In Western culture, individualistic and progressive, an individual’s life stages are defined in more material terms. We are born into a family within a social system, we become a legal adult aged about 18, we study or train for a profession, we become qualified, we start earning, and we build a family and work until we retire. There is only one life, according to Christian precepts, and this is it. And the value of our life is usually measured by what we earn, and the peak of our life is viewed as our retirement from work.
In the South Asian traditions, we are a student, and then a householder. But once our children are growing up, our life opens up rather than shuts down: we start to consider our spiritual journey. We step back from the hurry and the stress of our action-oriented working life, and we develop our inner and more contemplative life, in mindful preparation for the next birth. We work through our residual karma, to try and liberate our spirit, so that when our body ceases to function, we will be free of its limits and restrictions.
With the body we are allocated at birth comes the attachments that go with it. The facial features, the genetic attributes, the predispositions to good or bad health, the skin colour, the ethnic identity, even the cultural identity, are the externalised keys which turn in us to activate our actions. When we progress to the later stages of life, we realize that so many of these fiercely contested aspects of our identities are not that significant.
What matters is how we have conducted ourselves, and how we have played the hand we have been dealt. The content of our Highlights Reel looks different, through a less material and more spiritual frame.
If we are honest, we will recognise that the odds are in our favour in the early part of our life. Vitality, energy, optimism, egoism and survivalism all motivate us to build ourselves and the shape of our lives according to our ambitions.
We have, through the successful utilization of modern medicine, increased the years of our prime by 15-20 years, in the post Industrialization era, from ages 35-55. But we should not let this success make us feel all powerful and immune from the inevitable limits of our mortality. Because it is in this earlier era of life, while still compos mentis, that we make the choices about our life’s overall worth and value, and the legacy we leave.
As the odds start to shift against us, it is important that we realize that death with dignity is one every person would ideally prefer: at a time and a place of our choice; and as an action authorised and respected by the jurisdiction in which we live.
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