The Real Meaning of Sacrifice

Sacrifice means giving

Clouds at Evergreen. Clouds sacrifice themselves every day to shade and water the earth.

The story of Jesus dying on the cross is on the minds of a lot of people at this time of the year. Many see it a the ultimate sacrifice.

We don’t like the word sacrifice. It calls to mind unpleasant things that happened in the past like a hooded priest, an innocent victim, a sharp dagger, and a stone alter upon which to perform a bloody deed.

If we think of ourselves as sacrificing something it conjures uncomfortable images of suffering, deprivation and self-denial. It implies that we'll lose something we'd rather not. And if we, ourselves, are to be the sacrifice, then that would be a fearful thing indeed because it would mean a total loss of self.

But the word sacrifice means the opposite of what we think.

To Sacrifice Means to Give

In Jack Hawley’s 2001 translation of the spiritual Hindu classic, The Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the word sacrifice thus:

Sacrifice . . . means offering, helping, and being dedicated to the welfare of all humanity. It implies a mutuality of existence with all other beings. Sacrifice in this spiritual meaning of the word is a universal rule, a fundamental law of nature; sacrifice as the spirit of giving, which permeates all of creation. [emphasis mine throughout]

To perform an act of sacrifice, we don't lose something: we give something.

Sacrifice isn't giving up something; it is simply giving.

Physical life is full of sacrifice. Lord Krishna talking to Arjuna again:

. . . all living creatures are nourished and sustained by food; food is nourished and sustained by rain; rain, the water of life, emanates from nature, called down from heaven, freely given (sacrificed) for the eventual benefit of humanity. All of life, Arjuna, is therefore born of, nourished, and sustained by selfless action, by sacrifice.

 We wouldn't be alive today if the physical creation wasn't in a continual state of sacrificing itself - giving of itself - in the myriad ways it does,

• Clouds lose themselves in the form of rain.

• The sun is diminished each day it warms the earth.

• Plants and rocks disintegrate to form soil.

• Skin is worn away in the act of keeping our bodies intact.

In her book, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, modern mystic Cynthia Bourgeault wrote:

The word sacrifice is from a Latin root that means “make holy” or “make whole.”

The act of sacrifice - of giving - is a holy act. It makes things whole.

Usually we think that only the thing which is sacrificed becomes holy, but that's just one aspect of it. There are actually three aspects involved and they all are united in holiness through the act.

• The one who sacrifices - the giver.

• What is sacrificed - the gift.

• The one who benefits from the sacrifice - the receiver of the gift.

All three are part of the holy act of sacrifice, part of the holy whole.

Christ’s life and Lord Krishna’s words reveal the same truth.

At its deepest and simplest level, sacrifice isn’t self-denial. It’s giving.

It’s a giving of the self for the sake of the holy whole.

With love, Marlane