Self sacrifice

This has been defined as that which surrenders the pleasures of the moment for nobler ends, a voluntary endurance of what would normally be avoided or doing without what which is preferred, not with the aim of a greater good for one's self but for purely altruistic reasons. There is no ethical value in a grudging sacrifice of one's own desires. While developing the individual, then, self sacrifice improves the life of others - in fact family, community and society demand that each sacrifices his own needs for the good of others or anarchy prevails. In religious terms, self sacrifice is considered necessary at the most mundane level to overcome selfishness and too much attachment to worldly goods and at the highest level, in laying down one's own life for others as the greatest act of charity.