When we sacrifice something, we do it as an act of devotion or in the hopes of receiving something back. We sacrifice something precious to us – food, wine, gold, money, and in some cultures even people. And we may hope to receive prosperity, abundance, good crops, safety or something else precious to us. We sacrifice something precious as an act of devotion, or to receive something even more precious.
And something quite similar happens in the context of awakening. Here, we are asked to sacrifice what is most precious to us, our identifications with stories and identities, with a me and an I. This invites what we are to notice itself, which is even more precious. And only when we clearly recognize that as more precious are we ready to sacrifice what we are asked to sacrifice: identification with everything we have ever taken ourselves to be.
(The video is from The Sacrifice by Andrei Tarkowsky, a movie that made a big impression on me in my late teens/early twenties and one of the few I have watched more than once.)
……..
Initial outline…
- sacrifice
- conventional
- sacrifice something precious (people, wine, food, gold, etc.)
- get something else (prosperity, abundance, good crops, safety etc.)
- context of awakening
- sacrifice something precious (beliefs)
- sacrifice what is most precious to us, our identifications (with stories, identities – as a me + I)
- to invite what we are to notice itself
- conventional