Morality and Sacrifice Essay

Sacrifice is the surrender of a greater value for the pastime of a lesser one or of a non value. Thus, altruism gauges a worlds virtue by the degree to which he surrenders, renounces or betrays his values (since help to a stranger or an enemy is regarded as more virtuous, less selfish, than help to those one loves). The rational principle of conduct is the exact opposite unceasingly act in accordance with the hierarchy of your values, and never render a greater value to a lesser one. Sacrifice does not mean the rejection of the worthless, but of the precious.Sacrifice does not mean the rejection of the evil for the interest of the good, but of the good for the sake of the evil. Sacrifice is the surrender of that which you value in favor of that which you dont. If you transpose a penny for a dollar, it is not a sacrifice if you exchange a dollar for a penny, it is. If you obtain the career you wanted, after years of struggle, it is not a sacrifice if you then renounce it for th e sake of a rival, it is. A sacrifice is the surrender of a value.Full sacrifice is full surrender of completely values. If you wish to achieve full virtue, you must seek no gratitude in return for your sacrifice, no praise, no love, no admiration, no self-esteem, not even the pride of being virtuous the faintest trace of any pee-pee dilutes your virtue. If you pursue a course of action that does not taint your life by any joy, that brings you no value in matter, no value in spirit, no gain, no profit, no rewardif you achieve this state of total zero, you have achieved the ideal of moral perfection.If you wish to save the last of your dignity, do not call your best actions a sacrifice that term brands you as immoral. If a mother buys food for her thirsty(p) kid rather than a hat for herself, it is not a sacrifice she values the child higher(prenominal) than the hat but it is a sacrifice to the kind of mother whose higher value is the hat, who would prefer her child to starve and feeds him only from a sense of duty.If a man dies fighting for his own freedom, it is not a sacrifice he is not willing to live as a slave but it is a sacrifice to the kind of man whos willing. If a man refuses to sell his convictions, it is not a sacrifice, unless he is the sort of man who has no convictions. Sacrifice could be proper only for those who have nothing to sacrificeno values, no standards, no judgmentthose whose desires are irrational whims, blindly conceived and lightly surrendered.For a man of moral stature, whose desires are born of rational values, sacrifice is the surrender of the right to the wrong, of the good to the evil. The creed of sacrifice is a morality for the immorala morality that declares its own bankruptcy by confessing that it cant impart to men any personal stake in virtues or values, and that their souls are sewers of depravity, which they must be taught to sacrifice. By its own confession, it is impotent to teach men to be good and can only pres ent them to constant punishment.