11 Forgotten Laws – Law of Sacrifice

THE LAW OF SACRIFICE IS THE SECOND LAST OF THE 11 FORGOTTEN LAWS. DESPITE ITS FORBODING SOUND, SACRIFICE IS VERY SIMPLE AND AFFECTS EVERYTHING WE DO. EVERYTHING

The Law of Sacrifice has a very simple explanation – Give up something for something else. If you were to exchange one thing for another, there is a sacrifice. In a commercial sense we give up our dollars for a good or service. Sacrifice is not doing without or suffering. Everyone understands to be successful certain things need to be sacrificed. This may be time, money or emotional toil. The most obvious sacrifice is with an elite athlete. No-one argues that they trade time and effort  for success in sport.

Day to day sacrifice includes going to work and having a family, relious practice etc. Everyone is quite willing to give up a little time for some money or glory. However, the Law of Sacrifice really hits home in areas that are not so obvious, like in our thoughts. It is easy to say you will do something and not do it because you can justify it in your MIND. We need to very aware of these very thoughts for they are the seed of ideas and actions that will eventually show somewhere.

Our very thoughts dictate our actions. Yet our thoughts are probably the hardest of all to control.

“No one can attain his amibtion until he learns to discipline his mental force and is able to control his thinking” – 11 Forgotten Laws

SOMETHING ALWAYS HAS TO BE SACRIFICED FOR SOMETHING ELSE

Everything in our lives is subject to the Law of Sacrifice. Our favorite pastime must be traded in time and maybe money. So too our time at a job for cash. Every action is a transaction. We trade time for outcomes. So if we decide to do certain things then our minds dictate both our time/money saved or spent. This is important to remember. Whether we like the activity or not, we choose to participate in life or not.

This is key, because EVERYTHING we do involves the Law of Sacrifice and because even our pleasures take time, we must be wary of how we spend our time. Even more important is the fact that we must sacrifice at some stage. We sacrifice for “our own benefit” eg exercise, eating, working and we also sacrifice for our pleasures. The danger is “if you are to enjoy the pleasures of life, this means your freedom is impossible” (from the 11 Forgotten Laws.)

So what does this mean? Many people fight for their pleasures because we can’t work all day. Which I agree with. However, if we fight for our pleasures we are just as much tied to those as our work or chores. If we can’t do without our pleasures then our freedom is consumed by the need to have them.

The Law of Sacrifice dictates we must give up a balance of work and pleasure to have the things we want in life. We can’t afford to “need” anything or that very need becomes our master. A classic example of this may be TV or alcohol.

So it seems the key to the Law of  Sacrifice is to know that the very things we strive for- our freedom, can actually enslave us unless we learn to let go and occasionally sacrifice.

For a definition of the Laws go to Bob Proctor what are the 11 Forgotten Laws