hmmm, i'm not sure - it's a difficult one. do you mean sacrificing something of yourself for yourself or for others? by which i mean that self sacrifice is something of a contradiction - it seems you always lose something to get something else, therefore that's not really sacrifice right? oh, well, yeah it is in the religious sense - you know blood of such and such on the altar to appease the gods etc. but then there's another kind of sacrifice i'm thinking of, can't think of an example, which actually involves loss for no gain. to do that probably goes against our human/animal instincts - who can honestly say they have done that? it's like a test of morals; the balance between self and other. sacrifice is tricky enough, let alone turned inward...
I suppose I want to explore “the balance between self and others”. In particular the notion of obsession; whether it involves another person or changes to ones lifestyle. Obsession is a dramatic and all consuming occurrence and I find it fascinating looking at how it has affected me and lead me to give up things I had previously considered extremely important, seemingly effortlessly. It becomes a sort of ‘sacrifice’ that can come back to bite you later on. But then again, it may just be a matter of priorities, which generally are constantly shifting and changing within day to day life and are also HIGHLY subjective.
I guess priority in relation to sacrifice is interesting, if you make something a priority, “On the top of the list” does that mean all the things beneath it are being sacrificed? Would we only consider giving up something pleasurable or indulgent as a ‘sacrifice’ because of its connotations?
Self sacrifice, imposed sacrifice, sacrificing one for the greater good. Greater Good?! That would be the ultimate sacrifice - one where you didn't know the outcomes and weren't around to know "you did good". Even Jesus aparently knows the outcome of His sacfifice (not getting all religious on you). So i would say that would be the ultimate sacrifice, because no matter how dificult things may be, when you know one or some others will benefit, and you can get past the 'selfish' me me me attiutde - which is not easy (esp for me me me) at least you can have some satisfaction that, as i said, "I did the right thing" - the pay off as broached but anon 04/10. and then there is always karma and the greener grass and reincarnation (if you believe) - or am i missing the point Lady Harriet? so is sacrifice a short term thing until we adapt to the new situation that we find ourselves in? Even Death.
Sacrifice of one's interests, desires, etc., as for duty or the good of another.
Above is the dictionary definition obviously, though I’m not quoting it to be facetious. Simply, it eliminates the need to speculate on what self-sacrifice actually means. The above gives no clause or footnote stipulating “if you receive some goodwill in return, or a feeling of worth then it is not self-sacrifice, because you gave and gained.” Self-sacrifice is not rendered redundant because you received something in return; the concept is defined by intent. Whether or not you receive something because of your actions has nothing to do with it, the moment you decide to put someone else’s interests ahead of your own you are self-sacrificing.
The real confusion in this day and age is that people believe self-sacrifice doesn’t need to include a second party or agency. We say “If I don’t do this I am sacrificing something” and we usually add “but here are the reasons this may benefit me in the long term” to make ourselves feel better. That is not self-sacrifice, it is a choice. The problem is people are so used to instantly gratifying themselves that many choices they make seem to them like self-sacrifice. To put it mildly, people are self-serving jerks.
I am refusing to buy a new pair of cool shoes, so I can eat. Eating so I can think. Thinking in order to write. Writing so I can sleep. Sleeping so I can work. Working so I can buy a new pair of shoes. Refusing to eat.
To be self-sacrificing is to put others and their interests before your own. The selfless are self-sacrificing, they are the charitable, the compassionate. Self-sacrifice is the beneficent sacrifice, the loss that is the gain because, as the Buddhists say, It is the giver who should be thankful.
Yet it is also the martyrs who are thought self-sacrificing. They are those who go too far, those who empty themselves to wash the feet of others. The martyr sacrifices nothing because they have no interests of their own, but in a way this is a bad in itself: they are less than fully human. One is not human is one has no personal desires, no partiality towards oneself; they are nothing more than a vehicle for others’ wants and needs, an empty vessel shelled of anything but the shadows of desires poured in from others’ expectation. The martyr is not self-sacrificing because they lack is no real, properly-desiring self. Their sacrifice is a bleeding wound.
The sacrifice is self is to give up self, to surrender it… to what? to whom? It is, paradoxically, to see the many and put them before the one, even though in doing so the many is one less and the one is become nothing. To no longer belong to the shadow-storm of desiring ones whom they serve.
7 comments:
hmmm, i'm not sure - it's a difficult one. do you mean sacrificing something of yourself for yourself or for others? by which i mean that self sacrifice is something of a contradiction - it seems you always lose something to get something else, therefore that's not really sacrifice right? oh, well, yeah it is in the religious sense - you know blood of such and such on the altar to appease the gods etc. but then there's another kind of sacrifice i'm thinking of, can't think of an example, which actually involves loss for no gain. to do that probably goes against our human/animal instincts - who can honestly say they have done that? it's like a test of morals; the balance between self and other. sacrifice is tricky enough, let alone turned inward...
I suppose I want to explore “the balance between self and others”.
In particular the notion of obsession; whether it involves another person or changes to ones lifestyle.
Obsession is a dramatic and all consuming occurrence and I find it fascinating looking at how it has affected me and lead me to give up things I had previously considered extremely important, seemingly effortlessly. It becomes a sort of ‘sacrifice’ that can come back to bite you later on.
But then again, it may just be a matter of priorities, which generally are constantly shifting and changing within day to day life and are also HIGHLY subjective.
I guess priority in relation to sacrifice is interesting, if you make something a priority, “On the top of the list” does that mean all the things beneath it are being sacrificed? Would we only consider giving up something pleasurable or indulgent as a ‘sacrifice’ because of its connotations?
I’m not really getting anywhere….
Self sacrifice, imposed sacrifice, sacrificing one for the greater good. Greater Good?! That would be the ultimate sacrifice - one where you didn't know the outcomes and weren't around to know "you did good". Even Jesus aparently knows the outcome of His sacfifice (not getting all religious on you). So i would say that would be the ultimate sacrifice, because no matter how dificult things may be, when you know one or some others will benefit, and you can get past the 'selfish' me me me attiutde - which is not easy (esp for me me me) at least you can have some satisfaction that, as i said, "I did the right thing" - the pay off as broached but anon 04/10. and then there is always karma and the greener grass and reincarnation (if you believe) - or am i missing the point Lady Harriet? so is sacrifice a short term thing until we adapt to the new situation that we find ourselves in? Even Death.
self-sac•ri•fice [self-sak-ruh-fahys]
Sacrifice of one's interests, desires, etc., as for duty or the good of another.
Above is the dictionary definition obviously, though I’m not quoting it to be facetious. Simply, it eliminates the need to speculate on what self-sacrifice actually means. The above gives no clause or footnote stipulating “if you receive some goodwill in return, or a feeling of worth then it is not self-sacrifice, because you gave and gained.” Self-sacrifice is not rendered redundant because you received something in return; the concept is defined by intent. Whether or not you receive something because of your actions has nothing to do with it, the moment you decide to put someone else’s interests ahead of your own you are self-sacrificing.
The real confusion in this day and age is that people believe self-sacrifice doesn’t need to include a second party or agency. We say “If I don’t do this I am sacrificing something” and we usually add “but here are the reasons this may benefit me in the long term” to make ourselves feel better. That is not self-sacrifice, it is a choice. The problem is people are so used to instantly gratifying themselves that many choices they make seem to them like self-sacrifice. To put it mildly, people are self-serving jerks.
hmmm..,does gaining something from sacrificing another thing cancel-out the sacrifice? discuss! (and help me come up with my own answer!)
New Age Self-sacrifice.
I am refusing to buy a new pair of cool shoes, so I can eat. Eating so I can think. Thinking in order to write. Writing so I can sleep. Sleeping so I can work. Working so I can buy a new pair of shoes. Refusing to eat.
Self-sacrifice buys my new pair of cool shoes.
Not eating makes me stupid.
To be self-sacrificing is to put others and their interests before your own. The selfless are self-sacrificing, they are the charitable, the compassionate. Self-sacrifice is the beneficent sacrifice, the loss that is the gain because, as the Buddhists say, It is the giver who should be thankful.
Yet it is also the martyrs who are thought self-sacrificing. They are those who go too far, those who empty themselves to wash the feet of others. The martyr sacrifices nothing because they have no interests of their own, but in a way this is a bad in itself: they are less than fully human. One is not human is one has no personal desires, no partiality towards oneself; they are nothing more than a vehicle for others’ wants and needs, an empty vessel shelled of anything but the shadows of desires poured in from others’ expectation. The martyr is not self-sacrificing because they lack is no real, properly-desiring self. Their sacrifice is a bleeding wound.
The sacrifice is self is to give up self, to surrender it… to what? to whom? It is, paradoxically, to see the many and put them before the one, even though in doing so the many is one less and the one is become nothing. To no longer belong to the shadow-storm of desiring ones whom they serve.
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