Suicide for a good cause - Ego or Selflessness?

[Dingo]

I've been thinking about this question for some time, since I have been intrigued by the warrior persona, which I simplistically explain as someone, who is willing to give up everything (die in battle) in order to save his village.

I remember Leo mentioning, that martyrs are coming from a place of ego, but don't all warriors do that?
They are willing to die (act of selfnessness) for what they believe/think/feel is a good cause (ego)... is this a paradox?

One example of would be a student in Czechoslovakia, who burnt himself to death in public as a protest against the Soviet regime with the intention of showing his fellow citizens, that they should not give in to the invaders and should rise against them to take back the country.
more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Palach

It does look quite noble to me and the czech culture does honor his act up until this day, but didn't he die for the sake of his ideology or belief?

PS: I'm not going to kill myself, nor would I like you to do it... I'm genuinely curious about this matter.  

[The Don]

13 minutes ago, Dingo said:

PS: I'm not going to kill myself, nor would I like you to do it... I'm genuinely curious about this matter.  

Instead of committing suicide, practice surrender. It's much more effective. You can die before you die.

As I'm trying to do this, I'm getting a little bit depressed but what the hack, it will pass. We will die one day anyway.

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

I would say killing yourself for a greater cause is much higher consciousness than killing yourself because you are depressed and hate your life. But the question here would be: is it your best/only option? 

Is burning yourself to protest higher consciousness than keeping yourself alive and fighting for a good cause in greater/more sustainable ways? 

Killing yourself at war to fight the enemy might be considered noble but if you are high consciousness you wouldn't be participating in war in the first place. 

Lets say you are Will Smith in the end scene of "I am legend" and you need the mother and child with you to survive to give the antidote to the zombie virus to the other humans, then killing yourself by setting off a grenade which will kill the zombies in the room and allow the mother and child who are sheltered behind a vault to escape afterwards would be your highest option. 

Just my perspective. 

[JustThinkingAloud]

1 hour ago, Dingo said:

I've been thinking about this question for some time, since I have been intrigued by the warrior persona, which I simplistically explain as someone, who is willing to give up everything (die in battle) in order to save his village.

I remember Leo mentioning, that martyrs are coming from a place of ego, but don't all warriors do that?
They are willing to die (act of selfnessness) for what they believe/think/feel is a good cause (ego)... is this a paradox?

One example of would be a student in Czechoslovakia, who burnt himself to death in public as a protest against the Soviet regime with the intention of showing his fellow citizens, that they should not give in to the invaders and should rise against them to take back the country.
more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Palach

It does look quite noble to me and the czech culture does honor his act up until this day, but didn't he die for the sake of his ideology or belief?

PS: I'm not going to kill myself, nor would I like you to do it... I'm genuinely curious about this matter.  

He didn't achieve anything, there was no change because of his action, he would've achieved much more if he stayed alive and actually do something productive.

[bejapuskas]

@The Don  Try perceiving it as normal and natural, don't think that you are going insane or what not, that really helps  

[Skanzi]

Well... I think it can go both ways.

Burning yourself in public to protest against the soviet regime doesn't sound like an appealing way to die for me personally. I'm very much focused on internal transformation as opposed to external change.

As far as his perspective is concerned... Really, it's still a matter of attitude. He can do it feeling greed for paradise, he can do it in rage, he can do it feeling pride for being willing to make such a sacrifice, feeling superior for having done it. 

He could've also been in failing in life and ending up in hopelessness and despair. At such a point, using the excuse of being a martyr is a good excuse to commit suicide, whilst suicide was something he wanted to do regardless. This is also a possibility.

So all of that would be coming from the ego. It could've also been possible that he did it in a very clear moment, where there was no struggle accomodated with it, and where his decision to do was just a very clear recognition that his consciousness called him forth at that moment to do that act.

So really, the act itself is not necessarily indicative of the state of mind such a person is in.

[Leo Gura]

It can be an act of selflessness. Think of Christ or Gandhi. You can basically sacrifice yourself for your life purpose.

But this is still all part of the relative domain of life/death. From the Absolute perspective there is no one to die.

But if you get it in your mind this idea of "I will sacrifice myself in the name of glory and I will go down in history as a good human being." << That's ego

Be careful not to create a self-righteous fantasy about sacrificing yourself. Rather, act as though you are not important at all.

There is no sense is committing suicide for a good cause. No good cause requires your suicide. Rather just do your work and if you happen to get killed in the process by some haters, so be it. But if you actively try to be a martyr, that's ego.

A true martyr never tries to be martyr. He's just doing his work and others react to it.

If your life becomes selfless and has great impact on others, you will naturally develop haters who wish you harm.