[lit-ideas] Re: Sacrifice
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:39:16 -0500
In a message dated 2/11/2005 11:51:56 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
nantongo@xxxxxxxxx writes:
What goes on in our heads when we make sacrifices and when we make
*sacrifices*? Is it a different process for each?
Isn't it more appropriate to ask "What goes on in our hearts?" Or is
that old-fashioned metaphor now displaced to our heads?
A few years ago, I had to fight a pit bull that was killing a dog
entrusted to my care. There was no thought involved. I could have been
sacrificing a chunk of my arm (or more) for the sense of responsibility
I had as caretaker of the dog being attacked. But I wasn't. There was no
weighing of values. There was just immediate action. And I got lucky,
pinned the pit bull properly and subdued it after a long and difficult
struggle. Only after the fact, did I reflect on how powerful the pit
bull was, how weak it made me feel, how dangerous and foolish it was to
attempt something like that.
Probably a lot of military-type sacrifice is of that nature. React
first, then do the analysis if one survives the encounter.
Romantic sacrifice--giving up a good job, an easy life, a comfortable
apartment, to be with someone one loves--at least insofar as I have
experienced it, is also imperative. The sacrifice is not analyzed. Oh,
maybe a few years later one can reflect on changes made for love, but in
the decision moments, there is only the imperative.
Burning a bull for Yahweh may have a purely intellectual, or ceremonial
and transactional value, but so many sacrifices are only actions based
on our integrity as people, and can't be planned or said to involve
reasoned planning.
Eric
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