Suicide is a good death.
In Deaths of Man, Edwin Shneidman borrows from and elaborates on Avery Weisman’s conception of an appropriate death. “Some deaths are better than others,” writes Shneidman. Some can achieve a “good” death.
Shneidman points to Weisman’s vital ingredients to a good death: harmony and not conflict; dying as one would hope and desire; community with loved ones; recognition of final wishes.
An appropriate death is inclusive. Shneidman writes: “When we speak of a good death, we imply that it is appropriate not only for the decedent, but also for the principal survivors — a death they can ‘live’ with.”[1]
Dr. Shneidman was a founder of the suicide prevention movement in the United States, in the 1950s. His concern is not with “good” suicides. Yet Socrates and Jesus Christ would seem to be exemplars of a good death.
Xenophon reports on Socrates:
It seems to me that his fate was proper to one loved by the gods, because he both avoided the most difficult part of life and gained the easiest part of death. His fortitude was obvious: since he had decided that death was better for him than further life, he showed no weakness in the face of death (just as he had never turned his back on any other good thing either), but awaited it cheerfully and discharged his final duty in good spirits.
When I consider how wise the man was, and how high-minded, I am bound to remember him; and when I remember him I am bound to admire him. If anyone in his search for virtue has encountered a more helpful person than Socrates, then he deserves, in my opinion, to be called the most fortunate of all men.[2]
Plato also reports a good death. In the Crito and Phaedo, Socrates is surrounded by friends. Socrates philosophizes to the very end. There is protesting and weeping, but he comforts his friends. He bids goodbye to his children and the women of his household. He gives final instructions to his family. He baths a final time. And his final words to Crito: “We owe a cock to Asclepius; make this offering to him and do not forget” his final wish.” For death is the cure for life and proper thanks must be paid. That is: death is a cure for life.[3]
The Last Supper of Christ and his Apostles echoes the last days of Socrates. Surrounded by his disciples and friends, they share a meal as Christ announces his death and prepares them for what will follow. He washes their feet. He prepares the way for them to continue living. The night before his death, Jesus prays alone in the garden of Gethsemane, preparing himself for what will come.
While the death of Jesus Christ is not peaceful, this too is part of his design, his hope and aspiration, for himself and for others. And as the death of Jesus Christ was appropriate to himself and his disciples, for many, Christianity itself testifies that the death of Christ was good in itself, throughout the ages.
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[1] Shneidman, Deaths of Man, 28.
[2] Xenophon, “Socrates’ Defense,” 49.
[3] Crito 116a–b; Phaedo118a. John Cooper (ed), Complete Works: “A cock was sacrificed to Asclepius by the sick people who slept in his temples, hoping for a cure. Socrates apparently means that death is a cure of the ills of life,” n.19, 100.