My blogging got a knock when the old Xanga site came to an end. WordPress seems to be working longer but there is not real sense of community here. I often wonder if there is another site that actually has a community. Facebook, twitter and the other more social media sites just does not do it for me. Xanga had an anonymity where the community connected. Facebook and other platforms tries to connect you with people you know but often does not have any interest in who you are. Nothing stays the same. This site and this writing will also be lost at some point in time.
Nevertheless today I pondered how Christianity took away the idea of sacrifice. Christian teaching tells that Jesus Christ did the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross. This sacrificed removed the need for all other sacrifices. I am not going to ponder here on the sanity or truth of these assertions. The bottom line is that the whole concept of sacrifice was largely lost from the collective mind given that the majority of the world population profess to be Christian.
The Nordic pagan way is steeped in sacrifices. ODIN sacrificed and eye and TYR sacrificed an arm. It is not the type of sacrifice that appease a god, GOD or gods but a willing sacrifice to attain something far more worth than that what is sacrificed. I wrote today “Know when to sacrifice for a greater purpose”. The sacrifice is to realize that even something we value as being a stumbling block for attainment of something better. In that sense even Jesus’ sacrifice was for the redemption of mankind. Life our most valuable possession was sacrificed to gain eternal life for mankind. Odin always sacrificed for knowledge and wisdom. Tyr sacrificed to bind the Fenrir wolf and preventing it from wrecking chaos.
In a modern world we see the pursuit of personal happiness as the ultimate goal. When we look at sacrifice we consciously move personal happiness aside for the greater good. Where sacrifice goes wrong is when life is sacrificed for god or the gods. The sacrifice of a child to gain victory in war as an example. These atrocities just contributed to painting the very concept of sacrifice black. The point is that for any hero’s journey the hero at some point needs to sacrifice something of himself to gain something bigger. The point of sacrifice is where the here displays courage to step across the threshold of personal happiness to succeed in the call of destiny. What we can learn from sacrifice is that it is not a sacrifice if it is not something personal. If you sacrifice an animal or child, not matter its value to you…that sacrifice is meaningless when it is based on a misconception that it is demanded by a higher power. Sacrifice must change the situation for the better in a tangible manner. We cannot sacrifice the innocent for personal or even collective gain.
True sacrifice is the willingness to let go of personal happiness in order to gain some other value. We sacrifice time and effort when we go to work to earn money. A father sacrifice his money to pay for his children to be educated at university. These are less talked about sacrifices but the sacrifices that makes the world a better place. Sacrifice is however not something done from weakness where sacrifice is the easy way out. Sacrifice edifies the individual to greater self-fulfillment. Sacrifice does not harm the innocent. Sacrifice must come from free will. To sacrifice we must know the consequences and be willing to live with the consequences. TYR had to live without his hand, Odin without his eye. When we sacrifice something we cannot blame others for our loss nor can we expect retribution at a later stage.
The key is that we must understand that a time will come where sacrifice is needed….and we should not fear that moment when we are pressed to choose. However, when we sacrifice we must also calculate the consequences and the gain of such a sacrifice and make sure that we can look back at that sacrifice and remain convinced that the sacrifice was worth the action.
zeal4living