Sentence:  The preposterous altruism too! ... Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their <WSD>spines</WSD> in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a person, or from the head to the tail of an animal; backbone, vertebral column.