Dear Mr. Stuart:
I am writing you this letter because I am concerned about your view point in regards to selfless behavior. You claim that there are many individuals in this world who are selfless, whose actions have nothing to do with self-interested behavior and who work for the good of others because that is what comes naturally to them. In this letter I intend to show you how self-fish that thought really is and how by thinking in this manner you are fooling your-self and other who you preach this message to.
The truth is that there is nothing like selfless behavior in this world. Every action is taken with the self in mind. As humans we are attached to a lot of different things. We might be attached to our pet, we might be attached to helping others and we might be attached to sex, crime, money, power, love and the numerous other attachments that make the experience of life unique and different for every one. But as you will realize, you are attached to yo ur pet not for selfless reasons, you are attached to it because it gives you something in return, which may be attention in the form of licking your face, companionship in the form of playing with you, or just pure joy by watching the pet wag its tail. Your parents who in most cases are considered to make the ultimate sacrifice by bringing you in this world, feeding you, clothing you, educating you an then getting you ready for the real world dont do all that they do without their self-interest in mind. They want you to succeed because it brings them joy, they want to see you happy because it makes them happy, and they brought you in this world because they wanted to out of self interest and the need of having offsprings.
Mr. Stuart I want to let you know that claming that you are a selfless individual is considered deceit and manipulation. Yes deceit because you are lying that your actions have nothing to do with the way you feel, & manipulation because the person lis tening to you really believes you. Why do you help some when they are in need? Is it because it is your duty to do so! Did god tell you help people in need! NO! You do it because it makes you feel good about your self, or there is some internal or external need that is fulfilled in performing the action. Would you help some one if every time you did it made you feel bad! Most likely no, and if you do continue, it is because there is an unfilled need that you are trying to satisfy, which when fulfilled will bring you satisfaction. When you go to church and give that offering, do you really believe that god will help you because you just gave away ten dollars. No in-fact God should be angry at you because after all God is selfless and you are trying to buy his favor. In-fact every time you go to church, you do so not because of your love for god, but because of guilt, fear, in hopes of a favor befalling you or your loved ones. So look through all your actions and tell me, are you really selfless, do you act because you feel? Or do you act for the sake of acting without any attachments and feelings?
Mr. Stuart you have probably herd of Mother Teresa, who helped thousands of people infected with leprosy in the city of Calcutta in India. Do you think she was self-less or did she act out of self-interest? Doing what mother Teresa did made her feel good about her-self, she felt like she was making a difference. She came to India, and saw the state of the leprous, felt bad and decided to do something about it. I am not saying that she is evil because she acted out of self-interest, but you need to realize that even Mother Teresa acted out of self-interest.
Every day I go to class and listen to riotous preaching by my fellow class mates, some more than others about how passionate they are about helping others and how it is their second nature to do so, and how wrong it is for individuals to act in self-interest when it comes to dealing with other individuals. But what these students dont realize is that they are being selfish when making these statements. Why you may ask? Because if they were truly self-less about their actions they would not be so attached to them, they would not care what people think about their thoughts because it would not matter. I for example know I am selfish, so any action I take I relate to myself either directly or indirectly. There is difference between knowing that you are acting out of self-interest and not knowing that you are acting out of self-interest. Individuals who know they are acting out of self-interest work on improving them self selves fist, and then focus on helping others by helping themselves.
In order to be selfless Mr. Stuart you will need to give up attachment. You will have to practice the art of doing something just for the sake of doing it, without involving any feelings in your actions. You need to realize that self-interested behavior is not a bad thin g. Every individual in this world no matter what they say act out of self-interest. Without looking into ones self-interest there would be no motivation to accomplish any thing. In an ideological world selfless behavior is possible, but as long as humans are attached to feelings or things, there cannot be any selfless behavior. I hope this letter will help you realize that the notion of self-interested behavior and my feelings towards this matter. I end this letter with the following advice to you. The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interest to promote yours. Most men are so thoroughly subjective that nothing really interests them but themselves. They always think of their own case as soon as ever any remark is made, and their whole attention is engrossed and absorbed by the merest chance reference to anything which affects them personally, be it never so remote. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Regards,
Manik Thapar (MBA)
http://www.careerpath.cc
Author:: Manik Thapar
Keywords:: human behavior,selfish behavior,selfless behavior,indiuvidual behavior
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
No comments:
Post a Comment