Tagged: sacrifice
The sin of sacrifice
I received some feedback from the last article. Take it easy, Would ya? I am not writing to take away your toys… No! I am just sharing. 🙂
Just as “success and failure” are toys to play with, to entertain ourselves while Life passes by us; there is a stronger ideal which hasn’t been observed: To sacrifice.
“To sacrifice for an ideal is the utmost that a human can do for humanity.” Isn’t that the teaching? Isn’t that the “nice” phrase to live by and quote in our power point presentations?
To confuse matters, the “Office World” has provided some catchy phrases: “To sacrifice is to love.”
Love has nothing to do with sacrifice. As a matter of fact, we sacrifice because there is no love. When we sacrifice we give up something in order to get something else. That something else can be for us in the “future” or to “help” someone else… we believe.
In short, we frustrate ourselves “now,” we block ourselves. That frustration can go as far as offering your own Life for the “benefit of mankind,” it is said; although it hasn’t happened. Life continues on. You live, you die… you live again. Isn’t that the “spiritual teaching”? Why do you sacrifice for? 🙂 Become AWARE of who you ARE do not cover it with pretty phrases and cinderella ideals…
In the movie “Superman II;” Superman did not hesitate to give up his powers to have a human experience with his girlfriend, Lois Lane. Was that a sacrifice?
No. He simply followed his heart. He was honest with himself.
A religious group may label him as “egoist,” because he didn’t “sacrifice for the sake of humanity.” Imagine if Superman decided to play “Saint” and sacrificed his feelings for the sake of an ideal. He would have been a frustrated “superhero.” Saving others would be sacrifice , work. Love couldn’t touch his heart, because his mind was engaged into DOING what is deemed to be “right” by others, over his own feelings.
Through Life experiences, Superman learned about his mission in Life and satisfied with the human experience he experienced, he was ready to continue, not out of a compulsion; but out of maturity, out of living a process in Life.
Superman recovered his powers because his father foresaw this “human” incident and gave the opportunity to his son. Once Superman passed this test by “failing it,” Superman was ready to continue alone without his father’s advice. Out of love, his father disappeared. Superman and his mission in Life were one.
What would have happened if Superman was forbidden by his father to experience the love of a girlfriend for the sake of his mission? That would have been a sin against his own son. Total lack of respect to his human nature and his own process. That is violence.
Any sacrifice is void of love. Many times “failure” is part of the “success” but it happens when we are honest with our deepest feelings… 🙂
Outdated teachings
Because you can only give who you ARE, unless you ARE love, there is no love to give.
We are taught to believe that we can give love without BEING it, as when we can give money to someone when we “get it.”
We cannot “get” love to give, unless we ARE.
Any “effort” on BEING loving is self-deception.
We are taught to be desire-less to be happy. However, what is the anxious need to go to “Paradise,” to reach illumination, to please God, to become “soul” conscious”? Those things are desires just like any other “mundane” desire.
We are taught to “help others in a self-less” way; Nevertheless, we cannot BE self-less by separating “I” from the “others.” As a matter of fact, to “help others” is just a catchy phrase. By helping others, we only help ourselves. Do we get this riddle? We are not separated.
We are taught to take Life seriously, whether in the mundane business world or in the Godly world: Time is money- Become someone, save yourself from hell; hurry up! This is your only chance, if you miss this chance you will be doomed forever…
We cannot enjoy life when there is pressure to attain something, when our process is not being respected. Then we are willing to “sacrifice” our lives now for the promise to “enjoy” something in the future. That is a wonderful “method” but nothing else.
That promise of a “better” future is empty, as the “I” as it is now, cannot be the “I” in the future.
Our desire for a “better future” will only make us reject the “now.”
Once we realize the depth of all of those beliefs in our minds; then we are ready to put aside all of those teachings, to unlearn all of those things which keep the “rat-race” going in our minds as well as the division, of the mundane and the divine.
We could be aware of our own fear to continue in Life without those “training wheels,” those half-truths which we believed to be the “holy truth.” Ego needs the security of being part of a “selected” group, the mainstream, the Godly family, the familiar faces…
The above realization is the first step of our catharsis as seekers.
Before that, being a seeker is just another fashion, another way for the ego to believe in himself as “virtuous,” another way to socialize and to show how many spiritual books we can read and how many authors we could quote. That is a source for fattening our needy ego, for we could obtain the label of “knowledgeable” among our peers.
A catharsis then, is a process of unlearning and with that, a process of unleashing our repressed behaviors.
We could understand that some beliefs are just equal to the belief in Santa Claus, a technique meant to teach a self-centered person, the “joy” of giving a gift to another… but the belief in Santa Claus will be deep down in our unconscious no matter how much we could reason and understand in the surface of the conscious mind. Its depth in the unconscious is proportional to the amount of time we have spent drilling down such beliefs in our conscious mind.
For that reason, we shall deal with emotions, the “programming” of our unconscious.
Many individuals who have not experienced the process of a catharsis are caught up in blaming a society, a religion, a practice… unable to see that every experience is invaluable in our development.
What is important is to know when those “tools” need to be discarded, so we could embrace something new.
For instance, ego is a “tool.” It is not a “bad” thing, a vice. It is a mechanism of “self-defense,” something that will allow a person to survive in this society. However, it comes to a point, when that grown up ego, is an obstacle to flourish by connecting with others… then ego must go away through a process of catharsis.
The “programming” is erased. Some religions pretend to have “the method” to erase the emotions stored deep in our unconscious. However, everyone is not the same. A “method” may work for some but no others. Life will bring the right conditions at the right time. Different Life experiences are tailored to our particular needs. We are not alone.
Through that catharsis, you are empty and open for newness. It is in that emptiness how Love IS.
Before that catharsis, love may be pretty talk, romantic “get aways,” and fairy tales.
Exploring the Depth of Living 