As the concepts of selfishness go, I posit that suicide is the ultimate act of self love and narcissism. There is no act which portrays greater selfishness than suicide. (Ed. Note: I will say that suicide to prevent disclosing state secrets would be outside of the scope of this argument).
Say, for example, that each of us makes X number of decisions in a day. Considering that the average lifespan in the United States is somewhere in the range of 75 years, we’ll say that the average person makes 27,525X (365 x 75) decisions in their lifetime. However, some decisions carry more weight than others.
The effective power of each decision is based on the number of future decisions it affects. Huge decisions include where to attend college, which job to take, and who to marry. These decisions affect thousands of future decisions. However, in each of these cases, the decision creates the opportunity for more decisions. If you consider the decision of where to attend college: once that has been determined, students can choose which major to study and which classes to take. Each college has different classes so the choice for college Y has opened up a set of questions unique to that decision. The same follows with most every decision in life.
Except suicide.
An 18-year old college student would have roughly 20,805X decisions to make in their remaining years. Each decision, statistically speaking would equal only (0.0048 * (1/x))% in terms of overall decision making. It’s a statistical triviality.
Suicide, on the other hand would eliminate the possibility of 20,805X decisions. Therefore the adjusted weight of a decision of suicide would mean that it was the most significant by limiting the frequency of future decisions.
Decisions and Happiness
Every decision we make has basis in some sort of rational (or irrational thought). Why did you choose college Y? Perhaps it was the majors offered. Perhaps it was where your friends were going. Why did you choose your mate? Why did you choose your job? In each case, there are a set of reasons as to why we choose what we choose. In every decision, we make choices based on the perceived happiness we will receive from the decisions.
But wait, you say. What about selfless and religious people. Even their motives are based on their personal happiness. They believe in a truth claim that prescribes a certain set of actions. These actions are imperative to please a deity or are a set of cultural mores that provide structure to life. In both cases, personal hedonism still affects the choices one makes. However, narcissism is abated because the overarching goals and worldview are defined by an entity other than oneself. Serving someone else negates a philosophy of narcissism.
In the case of typical narcissism, the question of selflessness and religion is moot. Narcissism prescribes personal happiness as the only attainable goal. Without this, life is not worth living. Or better put, in a life without happiness, happiness is best and most quickly attained by removing life. If you cannot be happy while living, then happiness must be attainable in the absence of life.
Therefore, since the act of suicide most quickly attains a goal of personal happiness and removes the possibility of future actions, suicide is the most self-gratifying act men perform.
What do you say? Is this a reasonable position?
Disclaimer 1: Yes, this is a very morbid topic.
Disclaimer 2: No, I’m not considering suicide.