Enneads I ix: "The Reasoned Dismissal" [On Suicide]

[sdi]

I ix: "The Reasoned Dismissal" [On Suicide]

The soul does not withdraw from the body; rather, being timeless, it waits patiently for the body to cease holding it. Suicide disrupts this process, in that the man forcefully separates body and soul through violence.

If one indulges in violence in passion, then they are merely gratifying the body and not acting in accord with the soul, and therefore such an act is sinful. If one instead indulges in violence as an act of "reason," then we might ask why the soul would resort to such measures when it has access to better ones.

So while we hesitate to proscribe suicide, it must certainly be the soul's tool of last resort.

Comments

[sdi]

I have revised my summary of this tractate here.