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Title: Tolstoy Letter on Suicide Author: Leo Tolstoy Date: 1898 Language: en Topics: letter, suicide Source: Original text from http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=10669, 2021.
The question “Has a man in general the right to kill himself?” is
incorrectly put. There can be no question of “right”. If he is able to
do it, then he has the right. I think that the possibility of killing
oneself is a safety-valve. Having it, man has no right (here the
expression “right” is appropriate) to say that life is unbearable.
If it were impossible to live, then one would kill oneself; and
consequently one cannot speak of life as being unbearable. The
possibility of killing himself has been given to man, and therefore he
may (he has the right to) kill himself, and he continually uses this
right — when he kills himself in duels, in war, by dissipation, wine,
tobacco, opium, etc.
The question can only be as to whether it is reasonable and moral (the
reasonable and moral always coincide) to kill oneself. No, it is
unreasonable; as unreasonable as to cut off the shoots of a plant which
one wishes to destroy; it will not die, but will merely grow
irregularly..
Life is indestructible; it is beyond time and space, therefore death can
only change its form, arrest its manifestation in this world. But having
arrested it in this world, I, first, do not know whether its
manifestation in another world will be more pleasant to me; and,
secondly, I deprive myself of the possibility of experiencing and
acquiring by my ego all that could be acquired in this world.
Besides this, and above all, it is unreasonable because by arresting my
life owing to its apparent unpleasantness, I hereby show that I have a
perverted idea of the object of my life, assuming that its object is my
pleasure — whereas its objects, on the other hand, personal perfection,
and on the other, the service of that work which is being accomplished
by the whole life of the Universe.
It is for the same reason that suicide is also immoral. Life in its
entirety, and the possibility of living until natural death, have been
given to man only on the condition that he serve the life of the
Universe. But, having profited by life so long as it was pleasant, he
refuses to serve the Universe as soon as life becomes unpleasant:
whereas, in all probability, his service commenced precisely when life
began to appear unpleasant. All work appears at first unpleasant.
In the Optin Monastery, for more than thirty years, there lay on the
floor a monk smitten with paralyzes, who had the use of his left hand
only. The doctors said that he was sure to suffer much, but not only did
he refrain from complaining of his position, but incessantly making the
sign of the cross, and looking at the icons, he smilingly expressed his
gratitude to God and joy in that spark of life which flickered in him.
Tens of thousands of visitors came to see him, and it is difficult to
imagine all the good which flowed into the world through this man,
though deprived of the possibility of any activity. Certainly he did
more good than thousands and thousands of healthy people who imagine
that in various institutions they are serving the world.
While there is life in man, he can perfect himself and serve the
Universe. But he can serve the Universe only by perfecting himself, and
perfect himself only by serving the Universe.