The first thing that comes to mind when I see the word “sacrifice” is that there is a god, gods, or God to satisfy, to placate, to win over….to surrender to.
That there is a danger present and in order to earn safety from that danger, one must pay the price of something precious, like gold or a human life.
Abraham’s potential sacrifice of his precious son to a wrathful god Jehovah comes to mind. Wrath equals fear and the giving of something, until it hurts.
I cannot exist in a world where whatever Spirit that exists is a mean and vengeful one….my god needs to be better than human. All my gods need to be pure of heart, vessels filled with nothing but forgiving love.
Unconditional mother love.
My gods need to be female, I guess.
For men are fashioned to be angry and violent….it’s the penis thing, hard and thrusting, intrusive and insistent. Women? Open receptors, warm and welcoming.
I know, I know, all these ideas are truly nothing but myths designed to explain the battle of the sexes, and I know a human animal, no matter what gender, is still an animal. Need is need and fear is fear.
But instead of sacrifice, a fear-based life filled with onerous obstacles and obligations, high ticket prices to a promised paradise , I prefer the idea of generosity and gifting. We choose to give those things that matter to us in exchange for nothing promised. No thing guaranteed.
Because there are, after all, no actual guarantees in life, right? And to think otherwise is folly and….yes, the concept of sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a poverty stricken notion.
As if there’s not enough to go around.
And there is truly plenty for all.
Especially a Universe endless and filled with enough space to put everything in perspective. Surround even the most violent and difficult moments with enough space, enough space to breathe in, and sanity prevails and fear dilutes.
Give me space…..not sacrifice….Time and love as Laura Nyro once sang….time and love.
By Paul DeLong
On June 8, 2023
“But instead of sacrifice, a fear-based life filled with onerous obstacles and obligations, high ticket prices to a promised paradise , I prefer the idea of generosity and gifting. We choose to give those things that matter to us in exchange for nothing promised. No thing guaranteed.”
Lovely sentiment. No doubt, backed up by exactly who you are.