How much are you willing to sacrifice for your principles?

Question

Do you think it will be worth it in the end? For eg. Just suppose they threaten your life or the lives of your loved ones, will you still stick to your principles?

Answer 1

I have spent many years working on my principles and attuning them as much as i can to myself and the world through practice, learning and living. My principles inevitably have become life loving. So-here goes. There is nothing i would ever do to break my principles unless i were reforming them through some new insight. I have lost friends because i have clung to principles sometimes and i guess that makes me harsh and judgmental but if your principle calls for absolute non violence and high respect when you see a friend go wrong and they will not, cannot listen to the wrong of it then sometimes its best to follow your principles out of respect for their choices. Some might call this abandonment and maybe it is and i'm self dilluding myself to justify it, but i believe its when you respect your friend enough to leave them to their own devices, no matter how ill advised. Letting go can sometimes be a noble and loving act. Regarding what i'd sacrifice FOR my principles, i would sacrifice my family and friends if i believed it was right but not if the suffering of them outweighed the suffering of carrying out the principle because my highest principle is kindness i think. But if you form your principles around your loved ones sometimes you can sacrifice too much of yourself for the "idea" of love. Then its not "you" relating to them but the facsimile adjusted "interrelating" you. To stick to your principles makes you unique and strong and distinct and beautiful. But dont make difference a crusade of self proclamation.
What would i be willing to sacrifice FOR my principles? I kinda answered this in another way a while back on YA. I was attacked some years ago in Dublin by a gang, they didn't go for wallet or anything and it was serious-kicks to the head, cat scan dislocated jaw, damaged nose cartiledge. Anyway-the more important thing was-while i was being attacked i felt an instinct to attack back and i'm sure i'd do ok, i'm a pretty strong guy. But a serenity in me welled up and i refused to hurt another human being. I sat there on the bank of the river and took the beating and every time i raised my head to take another and another and another. One asked "what the f*cks wrong with you?" and i just smiled and said "i dont want to hurt you". After one or two more kicks one of the gang pulled the others off me and another pulled me up to see if i was ok. You could see they absolutely respected my non violent defiance. Perhaps it was wreckless and silly of me not to defend myself but i think i would rather die than become something i know i am not and something i never want to be. I would die anyway if i took to violence-in my heart and soul. Living in rowdy Ireland i've gained a reputation for breaking up fights without hitting a single person and taking a few knocks but for me i will take the pain that drives one human to lash at another until they themselves see that it is a human being they're hitting and see sense and kindness. They wrongly feel shame at which i tell them its ok-we all lose it sometimes. This was the key moment in my life when i knew i would sacrifice my life for what i believe in but subsequently i have learned an even greater lesson-to LIVE your life for what i believe in. That my dear friends is the greater challenge, maybe the greatest.
Sorry about length of answer and jumbledness of it.
Hope it helps.
In Kindness,
D

Answer 2

I'd need more of a specific situation. For example, if someone held a gun to my head and made me make some statement in which I didn't believe, I'd say it in a heartbeat. It's just words.

However, if I knew that I could make a lot of money by abusing eminent domain and taking someone's home, I wouldn't do it. I believe that's wrong.

I can't really think of a life and death situation where my principles would cause harm to someone I loved or myself. I do not have situational ethics, and don't trust people that do.

Answer 3

I would sacrifice just about most things for my principles - but not at the expense of others, after all these are my principles we're talking about.

Answer 4

It depends what my principles are and what principles are being threatened. If I had to abandon my principles for the purpose of saving my loved ones, because my ultimate principles are to defend the ones I love then all my principles were in contradiction to each other.

When it comes to artistic integrity, I would not be willing to sell myself out.

"No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style."

-Oscar Wilde

Answer 5

Our principles are really the only things we truly own that are WORTH fighting to keep.

Answer 6

Any principle that goes against life is self-refuting.

Answer 7

To sacrifice is to trade something of value for something of lesser or no value. Why would (or should) anybody ever do that?

I don't regard defending my values as a sacrifice.

Answer 8

My principles? Hmm, I don't know, make me an offer?

Answer 9

I pray that if it ever comes to giving up my religion or giving up my life, I will have the courage to give up my life. Thousands have died martyrs for their religion before me, and I would want to be in their company.