Why do some people commit suicide? How are they similar to fatalists?

Although Catholic-born, I have no intention of judging those who chose to end their lives. To be honest, I have no reason to think that committing suicide is a sin - unless you want to play the ‘religion’ card. There is no evidence - as far as I know - stating that suicide is wrong. We only believe that it is wrong. I will take another route: I would like to imagine how those who at least attempted to commit suicide viewed their being human, their being who or what they are. I hypothesize that there is a link between how they view their time here, and how they view themselves in essence.

Reasons to commit suicide vary from shame to the unbearable, financial burden. Hence, they see no reason to continue on living since life has lost its meaning.

I think the underlying reason for all their reasons is the view that there is no way out of their present situation.

There is no way out for them because they believe that the future is (or, will be) no different from what they had experienced (in the past).

In other words, like fatalists who believe that they have no control over future events, they have imprisoned themselves to their past actions by defining themselves completely by what they had done and what had been done to them. (note: Fatalists commit spiritual suicide by giving up on trying to improve their lives)

By allowing themselves to be defined by the past, they become prisoners of the past. And, as prisoners of the past, they view their future to be no different from the past.

That is a belief. It is not based on facts. It’s not even a fact.

The fact, however, is that tomorrow is ‘another’ day - a chance to be different from what you were yesterday. A chance to create yourself. That is Hope.

You don't have to be a Buddhist to be Buddhist

You can still maintain your belief in Christianity, Islam, Judaism or any other religions, and still be a Buddhist. To be a Buddhist in the way Siddartha - the most famous of all the Buddhas -has it, is to realize the simplest truths about behaving, feeling, thinking, and living, and relating to human and non-human beings. Unlike other faiths, the Buddhist attitude does not cling to a set of beliefs; nor does it pass judgement on the beliefs of other religions. The Buddhist attitude has no quarrel with anyone who chooses to believe in any set of beliefs. The Buddhist attitude is primarily concerned with how one believes in, and practices, beliefs of his choice.

When Siddartha abandoned his princely life and headed for the hills to find the truth, it took him six long years to finally get on to the path of true living and being. During those six  long years, he had experimented on the different ways of living and thinking, and believing. Each time, he failed and failed miserably. He must have had dabbled with what was described  Philosophy. He may have had dabbled with the different sets of beliefs. Each time, he failed and failed miserably. After six years of failure, he finally discovered the path. He set foot on that path. The path was long. To stay on that path, the Buddha was required to question himself, his biases and prejudices, his ego centric ways, his long held philosophical beliefs. In other words, he had to question almost everything he had held dearly. In the end, he was rewarded.

Of the several fundamental truths about living, behaving, feeling, thinking and associating with human and non human beings, he discovered The Eightfold Path. These truths are not exclusively Buddhist because not only did he not create these truths, these truths apply to any human being, whether he be a member of a religion, an atheist, or a secularist.

Take some time to go over The Eightfold Path, and The Four Noble Truths.