Sacrifice
Contents
Definition
Applications
Make Proper Sacrifices
"Genie" is the root word for "genius," and it’s a really interesting idea, because a genie is something that, as Robin William’s said: "unlimited power! Tiny little living space." But it’s a really interesting idea, because there’s this unlimited power that’s associated with genius, but it’s constrained. That’s really what the human spirit is like. It has this aspect of the infinite, and it is something that can grant wishes. But it’s also constrained terribly. It’s constrained mortally and physically and all that. But the thing is that both the infinite possibility and the constraint are necessary. That’s what makes up the genie. It has to be both at the same time. The idea that, if you find your genie you can have your wishes… That’s right. You have to want what you’re wishing for. You have to make the proper sacrifices to get it. It can’t just be some whim. You think, "well, I wish I had…" whatever it is you’re wishing for. [1]
Let Your Fears & Insecurities Burn Off Like Deadwood
What should move forward in time with me and what should be let go as if it´s dead wood? And the more dead wood you let go of and burn off when you have the opportunity, the less it accretes around you. Here’s something interesting about forest fires. People have been trying to prevent forest fires for a long time, especially that damn bear, Smokey, right? He is trying to prevent forest fires. And so, because forest fires burn up the forest, and that can’t be good. But here’s what happens if you don’t let forest fires burn, it’s that while forests collect a lot of dry branches, right? Because tree branches die, and wood falls on the forest floor and collects, and so the amount of flammable material keeps increasing with time. And that’s not so bad if it’s wet, but if the amount of flammable material is increasing and it gets really dry and then it burns then you have a real problem. The forest fire can burn so hot that it burns the top soil right off, in which case you don’t have a forest at all any more, you just have a desert. And lots of trees are evolved to withstand forest fires of a certain intensity, and some won’t even release their seeds unless there’s been a fire. And so a little bit of fire at the right time can stop everything from burning to the ground. And that’s also a really useful insight. A metaphorical insight into the nature of sacrifice, right? It’s also a lot easier to let go of something when you’re deciding to let go of it, because you’ve decided yourself that you’re done with that. It’s a weak part of you. It needs to disappear. You do that yourself. It’s much better and much easier than it is if it’s taken away from you forcibly. In which case you’re very much likely to fight it.[2]
Get Rid Of Everything About Yourself That Isn’t Perfect
There is another interesting thing here, a motif that runs through the entire bible. It’s a very very powerful motif and it’s partly associated with the idea of walking with or walking before God. And in the New Testament, Christ says something like ‘Thy fathers will be done’. And he means that will should be done through Him. And so I won’t be able to state this exactly right but it’s something like this, a lot of what people regard as their own personalities and are proud of about their own personalities, aren’t their own personalities at all. They are useless idiosyncrasies that differentiate them trivially from other people, but they have no value in and of themselves. They’re more like quirks. I remember once I was trying to teach a particularly stubborn student about how to write and she had written a number of essays in university and got universally walloped for them and the reason for that was she couldn’t write really at all. She was really, really bad at writing. And so I was sitting down with her trying to explain to her what she was doing wrong and she was been very annoying about it. Very recalcitrant, very, very unwilling to listen. That was a pearls before swine thing you know? So and she was proud of her insufficiency. That’s arrogance right?, that’s not humility. It’s self deception and arrogance to be proud of your insufficiency. That’s a very foolish thing. And that means to cling to the parts of you that are dead. Okay now, there is this idea that runs trough the bible, I think as a whole. That as you elevate your aim, you create a judge at the same time right? Because the new ideal, which is an ideal you, even if it’s just an ideal position that you may occupy, even if it’s still conceptualized in that concrete way, that becomes a judge, because it’s above you right. And then you’re terrified of it maybe, that’s why you might be afraid when you go start a new job, right? Because this thing is above you. And you’re terrified of it and it judges you. And that’s useful because the judge that you’re creating by formulating the ideal tells you what’s useless about yourself. And then you can dispense with it. And you want to keep doing that and then every time you make a judge that’s more elevated. Then there is more useless you that has to be dispensed with. And then if you create an ultimate judge, which is what the archetypal imagination of humankind has done, say with the figure of Christ, because if Christ is nothing else, He is at least the archetypal perfect man and therefore the judge. You have a judge that says, “get rid of everything about yourself that isn’t perfect”.[3]
“Sacrifice who you are for who you could become” [Citation Needed]
Interpretations
See Also
