The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

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952. Are people who fall victim to excessive indulgence in passions that they know will hasten their death, but to which they are uncontrollably addicted to, committing suicide?
“This is moral suicide. Do you not see that in this case such persons are even guiltier? They are guilty of lacking resolve, of the sin of depravity, and of neglecting God.”


a) Would this person be more or less guilty than the person who commits suicide out of despair?
“Such individuals are guiltier because they had time to reflect on the suicidal nature of the course they are pursuing. When a person commits suicide impulsively, sometimes a degree of confusion or disorientation is quite similar to madness. The former is punished much more severely than the latter as the penalties for a crime are always proportionate to the consciousness and intention of the wrong committed.”

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