Saturday, November 19, 2005
Our Selfish Natures
I would like to discuss the nature of selfishness. In so much as we only consider the physical body it is certainly possible (and acted out quite frequently) for a person to selflessly accept physical or materialistic pain and loss for the advantage of their peers. However, as has often been noted no physical act, no matter how altruistic it may appear, can easily be proved to not be selfish on some mental or spiritual level. Though at first this may seem to be a reason to despair about the self-centered failings of humanity I, for my part, see a reason to hope. For as selfish as we may be in our thoughts when we act, it is the very presence of these mental processes which enable us as humans to engage in actions that are physically selfless. As long as we remain acutely aware of our desires and intentions in order not to abuse those around us with our choices it is no sin that we act with good will based on our own experiences in reality. After all, why do you think Jesus instructed us to treat one another as we would desire to be treated ourselves? He was no fool, he knew what it meant to be human.
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4 comments:
I think you establish a definition of Selfishness as you preceive it to be. In short, this post annoys me. I've had many discussions of this nature with other people and I think it wise to establish the arena in which you are trying to focus by giving a definition. Then, if I so desire I could respond, but my response throughly relies on said definition.
Understood, here is the defintion of selfishness that I was referring to: selfishness is characterized in any action that makes you feel better, even if it is only the satisfaction of knowing you did the right thing by staying true to your ideals and beliefs. This is despite any hardship you may also encounter as a result of following said action, because if you did not stay true to yourself then you would be wracked by the guilt of not doing it and therefore you are avoiding personal pain by taking an action that could otherwise be observed as selfless.
What if the action that makes you feel good that you consider to be selfish is really selfless in nature? For example, donating to a charity, volunteer work, or even donating blood. Would you consider these acts to be selfish because they make you feel good for doing the "right thing?"
The short answer to that question is yes, those acts would be selfish because they make you feel good for doing the "right thing". If you would like a little bit more clarification see the comment I made in reply to amy's post. Remember though that I am not saying that this makes us lesser beings, I believe that the fact that we are personally selfish on this level enables us to have the conviction to take actions to aid others which we would otherwise never have the courage to perform. And I should also note that I believe feeling guilty about not doing something isn't enough, you also need to feel and acknowledge the presence of love, for yourself and others, in order to raise to the occasion in times of need and desperation.
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