Sacrifice and the Sacred
David Grossman – USA
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
At a recent lecture titled “True Sacrifice” a presentation in the ongoing “Aquarian Series” at the United Lodge of Theosophists, San Diego many meaningful ideas were explored. One was that true sacrifice is the process of “restoring ones’ relationship with the Universe consciously.” To put it another way sacrifice is the process of giving up the ever fleeting on behalf of the ever lasting.
The word Sacred is found at the root of Sacrifice and usually refers to something religious or spiritual as in the idea of sacred texts. So true sacrifice from a Theosophical and/or esoteric standpoint is an action that dedicates itself to the higher life or the good of the whole rather than our personal desires, wishes or aims.
An archetypal example of sacrifice is found in The Secret Doctrine (SD) by H.P. Blavatsky which presents the ideas of The Initiator and The Great Sacrifice.
Red poppies, symbol of Sacrifice
She speaks of higher beings, that is, souls who have evolved far beyond our present humanity in this evolutionary cycle, termed the fourth round in theosophical nomenclature. Much earlier in this round these more progressed beings from the (Lemurian) “third race” performed interestingly enough what she calls “The Great Sacrifice.” It involved igniting the spark of individualized self-consciousness, referred to as “the lighting up of Manas” or mind. This marks the point of the “Promethian gift and sacrifice” (See Myth of Prometheus) that allowed for the continued spiritual evolution of man, fully incarnated into material form, which is the most physical point (the middle of the fourth round) in this manvantara or great cycle.