Immolate or sacrifice oneself, sacrifice someone or oneself for a greater purpose
The verb immolar comes from the Latin word immolāre. The first meaning mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary refers to the sacrifice of a victim .
Sacrifice or sacrifice
Immolating, therefore, can be about sacrificing someone or granting something as a tribute to a divinity. The term also refers to giving one's life in homage, recognition or service.
For example: "I don't believe that someone is going to immolate themselves for such an absurd reason" , "The mother of the young terrorist stated that she never thought her son was going to immolate himself" , "When the leader told me that I should immolate myself in a attack, I decided to distance myself from the group .
It can be said that immolation is a sacrifice . The notion usually indicates the giving of one's life as an offering or for the success of a cause, although it can also focus on another type of sacrifice (giving time, effort, etc.).
in religion
There are religious fanatics who take the act of immolation as a means to satisfy divine designs. These extremists promote immolations in defense of their religion .
The terrorists who committed the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States , to mention one case, blew themselves up. This means that, in the attack , they lost their lives, convinced of the ethical and spiritual value of said action.
Thanks to archeology we have evidence of acts of immolation belonging to prehistory . In those cases, altars were made to sacrifice animals and offer them to the gods with the intention of improving their crops, making it rain or curing their diseases, among other options.
Recent examples
Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen , abbot of a monastery in Tibet, immolated himself in New Delhi to demonstrate against the visit of Hu Jintao , China's first communist leader .
Six terrorists linked to the terrorist attacks known as 11-M , immolated themselves in Leganés, Madrid, after the Special Operations Group had cornered them.
The immolations took place in London and were grouped under the label 7-J . They occurred in various buses and stations in the English city, and caused a high number of fatalities.
The unforgettable 9/11 , when planes previously hijacked by a terrorist group crashed into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon .
figuratively
Although the term immolate has a very strong connotation, since in any case it speaks of a caused death , in everyday speech we usually use language by subtracting much of its weight to accommodate it to our needs and provide greater emphasis to our speech. Next we will see a situation in which it is used with a different meaning, which does not speak of any suicide or murder, but simply of the loss of something that cost a lot to obtain, the sacrifice of something of one's own.
Immolation sometimes accompanies terrorist attacks
Suppose that, in an office, an employee upset with his boss asks his colleagues to join a boycott against the manager. One of the workers chooses not to participate in the measure and comments: "I am not going to sacrifice myself for a problem that is not mine." With this clarification, you indicate that you are not willing to sacrifice yourself (losing your job) for an inconvenience that is beyond your control.
Similarly, in certain moments of tension or even with humorous intentions we can say things like "I'm dying", "I'll kill you", "I hate you", "you're the worst person I've ever met", "he emptied my bank account". ", etc. All phrases that should not be understood literally, since they do not express what really happened, but rather an exaggerated interpretation of the facts . As we have mentioned, it is also possible to say apparently aggressive things in a joking tone, as long as our interlocutor is prepared to understand us.