The Irony of a “Lunatic Asylum” - “Metaphysics of Love”
Schopenhauer writes, “Love drives a still greater number of people into the lunatic asylum. There is a case of some sort every year of two lovers committing suicide together because material circumstances happen to be unfavourable to their union. By the way, I cannot understand how it is that such people, who are confident of each other's love, and expect to find their greatest happiness in the enjoyment of it, do not avoid taking extreme steps, and prefer suffering every discomfort to sacrificing with their lives a happiness which is greater than any other they can conceive.” “Lunatic Asylums” are projected to house insane personalities; hence, the presence of romantics in the asylums is ironic. Generally, an individual who is savoring the bliss of Eros would not plummet into craziness. However, in some cases individuals opt for suicide when their affections do not return the projected dreams. They exploit suicide to evade the realism of their disastrous love. Consequently, idealistic romantic outlooks activate mental ailments.
The Irony of “Monotheistic Religions Forbidding Suicide” - “Suicide”
Schopenhauer observes, “As far as I can see, it is only the followers of monotheistic, that is of Jewish, religions that regard suicide as a crime. This is the more striking as there is no forbiddance of it, or even positive disapproval of it, to be found either in the New Testament or the Old; so that teachers of religion have to base their disapprobation of suicide on their own philosophical grounds; these, however, are so bad that they try to compensate for the weakness of their arguments by strongly expressing their abhorrence of the act—that is to say, by abusing it.” Had the Bible unambiguously censured suicide, then the leaders would have been justified in cataloging suicide as an immoral performance. Accordingly, the leaders’ abhorrence of suicide is based on idiosyncratic, flawed interpretations which are not asserted in the Bible.
