Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Sacrifice

This was a month of sacrifice.

Of letting go and moving on
Of fighting the lower nature
Of effort
Of giving up the lower for the higher
Of investing time in friends
Of supporting other when they needed it most
Of giving up inhibitions
Of striving for unity
Of letting go of my ego
Of trying to see things from others' perspectives
Of lowering expectations
Of being mindful
Of bringing joy to others
Of doing that which makes them happy
Of teaching and sharing
Of consciously being more open in communication
Of giving and not expecting in return
Of sharing and not wanting
Of loving but not attaching
Of patience and not greed
Of surrendering to God and asking for guidance
Of striving to put spiritual growth above all else

This was a month of sacrifice.

3 comments:

Bright Butterfly said...

How appropriate that you've chosen to focus on sacrifice during the month of Ramadan.
Your post made me curious about the meaning of sacrifice. In terms of the word's etymology, sacrifice basically means "to make sacred" (from Latin sacrificium: sacer, "sacred" + facere, "to make"). The following seems a useful summary of the purpose of sacrifice: "Through sacrifice, life is returned to its divine source, regenerating the power or life of that source; life is fed by life." see http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/515665/sacrifice

For an overview of sacrifice in different religious traditions, also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice
e.g. Jews see it as coming close to God; Hindus (from the Sanskrit Yajna) as worship, devotion, offering, and oblation.

Nikhil said...

ah thanks for tht etymology - i hadnt thought of that...

8&20 said...

indeed, and i experienced much of it myself.