Animal sacrifice (n.) as burnt offering: as gods grew less material, eating their portion became a stumbling-block — so fire turned the flesh to smoke, a food fit for the divine.
Animal sacrifice (n.) that is more than a gift is the sacrifice of the god himself — the bull for Mithras, the lamb for Christ — and so of one's own animal nature, the instinctual libido.
Crucifixion (n.) is actually a very ironic death for a carpenter
The Crucifixion (n.) happened because Christ addressed all but would have no dealings with the crowd: no party, no ballot, only the Truth relating itself to the individual.
The Crucifixion (n.) is not a past event: it was not one man or one generation but the human race that crucified him, and if we are men we are present, not spectators, but accomplices.
The Crucifixion (n.) was the world's answer to a love that would not abate its demand; had Christ adopted the world's idea of love, He would have been loved, praised, even idolized.
Horse sacrifice (n.) signifies a renunciation of the world — the horse, energy measured in horsepower, is the libido that has passed into the world, and sacrificing it turns that libido inward again.
The Sacrifice of the intellect (n.) is the sacrifice of the intellect, a sweet drug for spiritual laziness, Jung wrote; creeds each claim the one perfect truth to compensate inner doubt, believing words for want of experience.
The Sacrifice of the intellect (n.) demanded by positive belief is a violation against which the conscience of more developed people rebels, so religious symbols, least intelligible of all, are the first thrown overboard.