North Star Writers Group

The media in Big D have been all a twitter recently about Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens - who may or may not have tried to commit suicide. (The official word now is “accidental overdose”.)

As far as I am concerned, Mr. Owens has had way more than his 15 minutes of fame. This column is for anyone else who may have contemplated this drastic step or is thinking about it now.

Suicide doesn’t stop the pain.

The agony that drives people to destroy their own physical bodies is generally emotional-spiritual, although suicide can be a last resort for those who are in the throes of a terminal physical ailment.

Although death puts an end to the physical body, it cannot destroy the despair, the depression, the sense of hopelessness and isolation that so often precipitate suicide.

That’s because thoughts, feelings and beliefs are, at essence, a field of electromagnetic energy, which science teaches can neither be created nor destroyed. We can measure the activity of this electromagnetic energy field with machines.

This energy field is known as the aura in traditional metaphysics. Poet and author Jane Roberts called it the “tissue capsule” in her work. More recently, English biologist Rupert Sheldrake has developed a theory about these fields that is outlined in detail on his Web site www.sheldrake.org.

“The morphic fields of mental activity are not confined to the insides of our heads,” Mr. Sheldrake explains. “They extend far beyond our brain…”

These morphic fields also exist before the appearance of a physical body and remain after its demise.

We have experience with these fields that are reflected in everyday sayings. For example, “the tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife” acknowledges the existence and effects of emotions that leave no physical markers.

All this means that if we kill our physical bodies, our mental, emotional and spiritual energy-awareness remains intact - and we keep right on suffering unless and until we resolve the issues that have tormented us.

Not only does suicide not end our pain, it inflicts great suffering on those who love us.

I have personal experience with the effects of suicide on those left behind, in my family and with my best friend from childhood, who killed herself shortly after her 38^th birthday.

Survivors wonder what more they could have done to help the deceased, why they didn’t recognize the seriousness of the problem and what they did to contribute to the action in the first place. It becomes an endless and ultimately pointless litany of self-recrimination.

Some religions teach that God condemns those who take their own lives. Believing, as I do, in free will that is unconditionally free, I do not think God holds any special wrath or punishment for those dead by their own hand. What greater burden could our Creator add to the agony that prompted such an extreme action? Suicide is its own worst punishment.

To those in pain enough to be serious about killing themselves, all I can add is the perspective of someone who has also considered taking this step. The crisis will pass. It always does. But death of the physical body is everlasting. Such passing robs us of the chance here and now to grow beyond the pain, beyond the crisis.

There’s no time like the present for healing. Although right now it may not seem or feel like it, help is always available. Reach out. There are suicide hotlines in every state in this nation. We do care. We want to help but are often diffident about intervening because we don’t think we have any “expertise” to offer.

To those who think they might know someone who might be a candidate for suicide, don’t wait to find out for sure. Make it clear that if this person ever wants to talk about anything, you are available and willing to listen, even if you cannot whip out a clever answer.

The greatest life-saving gift we can give one another is our attention.

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