Thoughts on suicide as it relates to consciousness and the self

[Randy Savage]

A human consciousness is protected from the pain of life on every level of existence through a series of mental protections and coping mechanisms, and suicidal ideation occurs when your mental protections are no longer sufficient to prevent the consciousness from letting go.

Each person is made up of two things: a physical body and a consciousness. The consciousness is made up of 3 parts which envelop eachother.
1: Base level / memories
Your past, memories, and personality lie on this level. Traumas and triumphs, likes and dislikes, and your raw emotional memory of every moment you've ever internalized come together here to influence your thoughts and actions. Basic emotions such as sadness and anger rise up from here, but do not begin to become interpreted until the next level.
2: The dormant self
The most concrete level of your consciousness. The self is influenced by and partly comprised of the base level, but is far beyond it in scope. The self is an observer, synthesizing all information it receives from the outside world with your base instincts from the level below. It is the starting point of complex emotion, created out of an idealized perception of the base emotions: sadness is transformed into grieving when it is over the loss of a loved one, and curiosity is transformed into ambition in the presence of opportunity. It does not directly make decisions, but is a key influence. This is the level of your consciousness where the absolute you, a you without both positive and negative emotion as well as material objects, lies.
3: The informed self..
The third level of your consciousness is the most complete version of your conception of yourself. The informed self takes all of the basal, idealized information from the lower levels of consciousness and compares it against the material state of the world and your own body. In other words, this part of your consciousness is the most informed part of you, whether or not that information is helpful. This stage is capable of directly influencing and interpreting your actions and is the staging area for most of your mental protections. This is where critical thought and the linguistic expression of ideas, as the synthesis of all consciousness before it, lies. The most true version of yourself, according to yourself.

So what does that have to do with suicide? Well, it's my opinion that suicidal ideation can start in any of the 3 parts of your consciousness as a response to a lack of control. The mental strategies people have in place to combat feelings of sadness and discontentment exist throughout all three levels, and a total breakdown of these protections results in a conscience completely giving up.
1: Suicide exists on the base level as a willingness to die. Since advanced thought does not exist here, the primary suicidal construction is a basal, animalistic feeling of simply wanting to die as a result of prolonged anguish.
2: Suicidal thought in the level of the self exists as the feeling of wanting to give up. The simple self does not expect such adversity, as it has received as information from the basal level, and wants to give up.
3: The informed self is the most volatile place for feelings of suicide to exist, as it is where the outside world is interpreted fully. Suicidal ideation occurs here, and it is the place where a suicide plan is actualized.
On top of all of this, you have a person's persona: how they choose to appear outwardly to others. A person's persona is usually particularly strong in online spaces or when they seek to impress others and fit in. This isn't really relevant to what I'm talking about but I thought I would mention it.

(This is a very streamlined version of how my views on some Jungian concepts, which I personally believe are true, interact with suicide).

This is all interesting conjecture, but does it have anything to do with real life? Well, I think that if something like what I believe is even close to reality, it could explain why most people fundamentally do not understand suicidal people. To put it in context though, this should come first: I think that to become suicidal, a person must first do all three of these things, in any order but probably as listed:
- Discover the basic urge to die (1)
- Feel what it's like to give up on life (2)
- Come to an independent conclusion that suicide is not only a viable option, but a likely conclusion (3)
Each successive level of your consciousness feels this particular feeling in a different way, and once you've got all three going, you're probably ready to end it regardless of any other emotions and attachments you have. If a person doesn't have ample protections and coping mechanisms against their situation, they will feel the urge to commit suicide on all three levels.

So what does that have to do with society misunderstanding suicide? Well, to put it simply, most people have more than enough protective thought patterns and coping strategies to carry them through their life. When they meet people who either have a horrible life or cannot cope well or both, they cannot understand the suicidal line of thinking because *their mind would never let them get to that point*. We disagree so intensely because one side of the argument is in a completely different realm of thought than the other.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. I would love to hear what you think. If you read this, thank you.. and sorry in advance if this is a little disjointed and long, I'm high as fuck

 

[KillingPain267]

A human consciousness is protected from the pain of life on every level of existence through a series of mental protections and coping mechanisms, and suicidal ideation occurs when your mental protections are no longer sufficient to prevent the consciousness from letting go.

Damn! This is so true and made me sad. Because I can no longer cope, so I guess my consciousness has let go.

To put it in context though, this should come first: I think that to become suicidal, a person must first do all three of these things, in any order but probably as listed:
- Discover the basic urge to die (1)
- Feel what it's like to give up on life (2)
- Come to an independent conclusion that suicide is not only a viable option, but a likely conclusion (3)

Check, check, check.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I found your post really interesting. Thank you. And yes, I've heard that expression from 'normies': 'my brain would never let me get to that point' (of considering suicide seriously.) I always found it curious. Like- why? Religion? Family ties? I always assumed there was a real world reason for it but I suppose I did simultaneously think- maybe they are just wired differently.

The interesting thing I find about it is that it shows they have actually asked themselves- would I consider suicide? In order to know that they wouldn't. So, I suppose on some level, they have sort of wanted it perhaps at some point.

I get the feeling that you're equating consciousness entirely with parts of the brain? I agree with that. I think it's more likely that it is a consequence of the way the brain works, rather than some spiritual thing that floats in and out of us.

What I found curious is your description of the yearning for death arising in the very basic part of the brain. The primal brain if you like. I'm not entirely sure on that one to be honest. I feel like our primal brains are more like animal brains- geared towards survival. I imagine this is where our SI lives. I suppose in my head, I've felt like it's the other parts of the brain that need to basically beat the primal brain into submission in order to actually suicide.

 

[Randy Savage]

What I found curious is your description of the yearning for death arising in the very basic part of the brain. The primal brain if you like. I'm not entirely sure on that one to be honest. I feel like our primal brains are more like animal brains- geared towards survival. I imagine this is where our SI lives. I suppose in my head, I've felt like it's the other parts of the brain that need to basically beat the primal brain into submission in order to actually suicide.

SI is probably in the most primal reaches of our psyche, whatever that is. It's all instinct. Still, I believe there exists a base and primal aspect of suicidal ideation. To me, it feels like it could easily be more of a "readiness to die" rather than "I need to immolate myself". Animals exhibit it when they are about to pass, finding a nice ditch to fall into - this leads me to believe that this sense is a basic urge that most animals with a brain big enough to understand death have.
Perhaps SI disengages when one is ready to die, fully and without regret or attachment (like an animal!)

 

[peaceandlove]

Omg yes please stay high af and keep talking

 

[pyx]

your three levels of consciousness sound a lot like Peirce's categories. the informed self in particular also reminds me of Fichte

there's a lot of stuff here i don't agree with, but very refreshing read nonetheless