"... you always have to start from where you are!"

But what of the individual who acts so that he or she sacrifices him or her self in favor of another? Isn't it possible for an individual to be an altruist?

The short answer to that is; no. There is such a thing as sacrifice, or course, but there is no such thing as self-sacrifice.

The word "sacrifice" means, quite literally, "sacred feast". In ancient practice, it involved the act of offering something of high value to a deity or god, usually by killing and/or burning it as a part of or as a prelude to some holy rite.

In common usage, the term "sacrifice" is understood to mean the destruction or surrender of something of very high value for the sake of something else; or to suffer the loss of, to injure, or to destroy for an ideal, belief, or end.

Earlier, when we began our look at the subject of human motivation, we briefly explored the notion of relative value, that is, the idea that things have a subjective value relative to each other, and that this value relationship depends upon the circumstances and the subjective processes of the individual making the value determination.