Sacrifice

The whole notion of personal sacrifice has been distorted by religion. Religions have manipulated followers to sacrifice money to support the people who run religions. Giving hard-earned money for constructing ostentatious meeting places has been portrayed as a holy sacrifice. The ostentatious meeting places are simply career-boosters for the religious hierarchies who build them.

True compassion often requires sacrifice. It requires sacrificing personal prejudices and egocentric ideas about how things should be. Compassion entails getting in touch with and accepting the way another person feels and thinks.

This personal sacrifice of ego to develop compassion is world-changing. It is not masochistic, like the sacrifices exalted by many Christians. Giving myself to the lions of the Colosseum with a smile is the stuff of cheesy 1950s Christian propaganda films. It has little to do with the sacrifice of ego for compassion in the name of peace and shared joy.