Edward’s Diary Entry 53 – Virtue 6. Readiness to Make Sacrifices / Worship – What to do about egoism?

Inability to sacrifice, lack of rituals, no sense of higher or lower, self-centredness, egoism, lack of reverence, clinging to the body…

Again and again, we see how “Sacrifice” most often refers to a song by Elton John, a typical mainstream ditty about two hearts living in separate worlds, one of which dreams about a past lover, with a nice catchy chorus. In fact, I like the melody and Elton’s superb delivery. So many songs sound great, but their meanings are simply too simple, either pining/complaining about the past, or getting excited/indignant about the future. There is very little music about the “Present Moment”, isn't that funny, because that seems boring for simple minds living in the past – which is only fragmented memory – and projecting to the future – which of course never really comes.

I have sometimes seen someone in the street sacrificing a few coins for a beggar, and that raises an eyebrow. I know people sacrifice their time to care for dogs or get involved in animal shelters. Family members sacrifice for family. Husband and wife sometimes sacrifice for each other, parents for children, and all this seems good. The difficult part is when it comes to sacrificing one’s concept of oneself for something unknown, theoretically greater. That’s tough.

As we look at more and more of the moral qualities we call “virtues” and their corresponding or related absences (named “vices”), they start melting together like spots on a tiger. Where does one end and the other begin? The opposite of fearlessness is fear of losing one’s own concept of oneself (ego); the lack of purity of heart is due to the infectious vices of the personality (ego); the opposite of charitableness is protecting one’s own property and keeping it for oneself (ego); the absence of anger is the battle to conquer one’s innate violence towards others (ego)… and so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say. 

If there is no Self-Awareness and everything seems “hunky-dory” – as long as circumstances are favourable – there is no need to study Virtues or Vices. The way you have been brought up and educated yourself is enough for you. But if, and only if, there is something stirring, and you’re not sure what to do about it, let’s look at a THREE SIMPLE STEPS we can take to go forward and combat this vice of “inability or refusal to sacrifice”:

Step One. DEFINE SOMETHING “HIGHER THAN YOURSELF (WITHIN)”. The mind or some kind of intuitive sense, must be convinced that there is something lacking, something missing, and that an effort can be made to achieve that “something”. This can also be a partial truth in that we do not really “achieve” anything, but to start with, our dissatisfaction produces an action towards even this “partial truth”. There is a division between lower nature and higher nature. We are in lower nature. We want to realise higher nature. Therefore, an attitude and feeling of “reverence” has to be produced and promoted. We need to worship, we need a sense of wonder, a feeling of devotion. Not because anybody tells us to, but because what you place in a higher realm in your mind inspires you to attain it. We need to counteract the downward pull of the ego, which only wants to look out for itself, or pride itself on looking out for others. To counteract that effect, we place some kind of Higher Nature, or Overself, Conscious Man, Higher Self, Creator, Prophet, God, or whatever you want to call it – the word doesn’t matter – on a pedestal and we bow down before it, mentally and physically. Anything is good for this: a leaf, a flower, a fish, a face. If you’re really exaggerated, and not squeamish, you can use a fingernail paring or a worm! After all, if you really look at it and contemplate it, you will see that it is far more complicated than any Smartphone you may own. Anything natural is beyond our power to create. If you cannot create a fly, you should not kill it, they say. And we humans don’t create anything – have you ever thought about it? – we just juggle physical pieces around in different combinations. Show me “creation” – and I’ll show you a Mystic. The argument usually revolves around this: since creation is so complex and beautiful, there must be a Creator. And remember, by cutting things down into smaller pieces under a vast array of microscopes, or exploding them up via visible light (Hubble) telescopes, science hasn’t found any explanations – it’s all still a mystery! It’s us – me and you – who have to find out what it all means, not them.

Step Two. DEFINE YOUR “RITUALS”. Once you have defined something Higher Than Yourself, you need to do something to cater to that something, to relate with it. Worship is supposed to be pleasing to the gods – humans have been doing it for millennia. The advantage of worship is that is accumulates energy for you. It makes your mind stronger. The disadvantage has often been that it involves “immoral” or “insane” behaviour, like killing animals (sheep, bulls, oxen, female calves, male calves, doves, pigeons, geese…), cutting throats (lambs), sacrificing virgins, offering up firstborn sons (guess who?), cutting down trees and burning them (Indus river), flagellating backs, cutting faces, female genital mutilation, circumcision, etc.), unnecessarily plucking flowers, squandering resources needed for other things (bloodless offerings like grain and wine, clarified butter, spices and wood), amongst others. Human beings have done all kinds of supposed “sacrifices” for totally absurd and horripilant ideas, for thankless gods who never paid them back, for fearsome gods who supposedly demanded flesh and blood. It’s crazy. So, TODAY and NOW, let’s keep it clean and simple. Certain bodily movements are enough, a few offerings of flowers, incense, candles or whatever you choose, will do – with a repetitious mental exercise for concentration. It’s not WHAT you give, it’s HOW you act. A few coins given here and there – without expecting anything in return. Maybe even a structure for helping others, say an hour a week dedicated to the poor, the needy, or simply a sick relative. Something extra that you do, not because of circumstances, like helping a sick relative, but because you DECIDE to do it, and STICK to your decision, come what may. That is the establishment of a ritual. A ritual builds energy and will. It is not the ritual itself or the physical objects you handle. It is the continued practise of a set of actions, physical and mental, with the unexpected kickback that after a certain time, you are FIRMER, more PERSEVERING, CALMER in MIND and more AGREEABLE in character. If you’re doing it right.

Step Three. PERSEVERE IN YOUR RITUALS. After a time, as mentioned above, what at first seemed impossible becomes easier. What you couldn’t do, you now seem to be doing effortlessly. But when the going gets tough, you stick at it. Impatience is a not a good companion. The mind will begin chattering about why you should quit: "You’re getting nowhere!", "Why are you doing this?", "Why bother, you’ve been at it for some time and nothing’s happening", etc., etc. With minimal Self-Awareness, you know the mind will always want to chatter, so you don’t listen. With more Self-Awareness, you shut its trap almost by nipping the thought in the bud. "It" doesn’t chatter so much anymore. There are times of silence… moments of immense silence and power, and you just experience it, and you have no better words for it than, for example, Albert’s Schweitzer’s “Reverence for Life”. And you deepen in sacrifice… and you see. 

Lucky you. Even a small blessing can be immense.