On Sacrifice

Although the practice of sacrifice has been used in many ancient cultures, its intent was, in some way, to satisfy the demands that the gods were making for repayment of some beneficial effects bestowed on behalf of the people. Over time these sacrifices became physical and included the sacrifice of animals and humans, in the hope that the gods would look kindly on the people and give them good fortune or ward off some evil that had been prognosticated.

If however we look at sacrifice strictly from a spiritual point of view, then it takes on a completely different meaning then interpreted by historical context. To sacrifice ones life for others is a noble gesture, that shows a person who recognizes the value of life, and chooses to give their own for the benefit of others. The selflessness of that gesture represents for the sacrificer, an evolutionary act in their development beyond their own desire for self preservation. A mother who throws herself in front of a car to save her child who runs into the street is considered one of the greatest acts of sacrifice one can make.

Sacrifice can also refer to giving up parts of the self that are associated with things not worthy of a spiritual person. Anger, irritation, selfishness, are just some of the traits that can be willingly sacrificed when one chooses the path of the spirit and consciously sets ones goal on the path of knowledge and wisdom. Recognition that in order to go to another level of development, giving up those self- associated traits, which impedes the progress one can make on the path to enlightenment.

Enlightenment is not an unattainable goal. But it is to some degree a level that one must consciously make a choice to search for. In the process of that search, qualities of our humanness more associated with self are needed to be sacrificed in order to understand what the greater purpose is. Most religions talk about sacrifice. Certainly Christianity speaks a lot about Christ's sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

We also need to acknowledge and accept responsibility for our own sins. We can never gain wisdom from learning what we have done wrong if we continuously deny them or go to someone to seek absolution of them. Only by willingly accepting the consequences of sins, can we ever hope to finally sacrifice the motives and causes that made us sin in the first place.

More on sacrifice at another time.

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I want to take this time to wish happy birthday to kevin - a good personal friend of mine and friend of this blog community. The following poem celebrates the man, his accomplishments and his valuable contribution.

K
He Walks With The Swag Of A Confident Man,
One With The Step Of A Kool Cat Dude.
He Looks To One Side Then The Other, With Ease,
Sniffing The Scent Of The Wind As It Moves
Like A Panther, On The Prowl For His Next Prey,
Caring Nothing That Others Look To Him And Pray
To Get His Notice, His eye, His Heat,
Notice Me, They Think, As He Passes The Fray,
Knowing They Notice, He Flinches And Belches,
Well I'm A Confident Man, He Thinks,
I'm The Kool Cat Dude, I Do What I Want, I Do What I Please,
I Pick Who I Want, Cause I Want Who I Pick, If You Please
Cause I'm The Cat, The Kool Cat Dude, Who Everyone Sees
Who Everyone Wants And Says, Please Notice Me
But He Wants Who He Wants, The Ones You'd Least Expect,
Cause He Senses The Heart Of The One He Picks,
Caring Nothing Of The Yearns, And The Calls For His Heat,
Cause He Is The One, The Kool Cat Dude,
The One With The Heart Of Gold