152 SKETCHES OF GREAT TRUTHS

can you do mine. Each has his place; yet each
unit is forgotten in the completion of the whole
—that is the idea of self-dedication. We learn
this lesson in our games. A man is not a single
unit in cricket, but he is part of an eleven. He
plays for his side, and never for a moment can
he act except for the good of the whole. This is
one great use of learning to play games. How
great would be our power for unity in the world,
if we could carry out the idea of belonging to
each other. As a man gives himself in service
to the eleven to which he belongs, so should
we aim in self-dedication to give ourselves for
the good of the whole. When we have learnt
this lesson and freed ourselves of the bonds,
then comes the next step on the ladder of life,
and we are fixed in our one-pointed aim to climb
the mountain that leads to the Eternal Heights*
I referred to this in Chapter VI.

We have thought and been brought up with the
idea that sacrifice means suffering, and out of
that has grown the idea in some religions of self-
torture, flagellation, etc., as offerings to a God
of vengeance who, in that case, would be a God
who loved to see peoples suffer. Nothing could
be further from the idea of the One who is All
Love, All Embracing, than the desire to torture
those whom He has brought into being, and in