I once listened to a speech where it goes like this - "Every person is selfish, whether he admits it or not". I couldn't quite understand it at the time. I was like what the hell? How about all the famous people out there who sacrificed everything and were called the epitome of selflessness?
But today, as has been my case for quite a few days in fact, I was still trying to figure out my role. What people call path to realizing one's self or putting it simply - asking myself questions like "who am I?", "Why do I live?", "What's my purpose in life?", "Why do I exist?" etc ...questions that most people ask themselves at some point in their life. Being a female, and therefore prone to multitasking and unable to focus on just one problem, a hundred different thoughts kept flitting across my mind. Among these thoughts happen to be a realization of the truth in the the statement that every person is selfish.
Now I keep hitting jackpot on such questions in life every now and then. But unfortunately I also keep forgetting that I found an answer after a few days, the question itself disappearing from memory. The why of this phenomenon I do not know. But for what ever reason's I wanted to note down this new finding somewhere so it doesn't get lost.
Now dictionary meaning of selfish would be "devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others." And selfless would be "having little or no concern for oneself". Okay, now consider a person you feel is the epitome of selflessness, say he/she self sacrificed for the betterment of a lot of other people. Now what motivates such a person to do so? If they have absolutely no personal stake, this act is never gonna take place.
There is always a sense of achievement for which any action is done. Be it survival or sacrifice. In this case it could be that the person's purpose in life to him/her was this. That person truly believed that this is what he/she was born to do and making a difference to the world because of his/her action was to them the ultimate purpose of life. So actually here the said person is achieving the best for himself by doing what he/she does, and that has in a way nothing to do with anyone else. If this was not so, he or she would never do what was done.
Call me a cynic but this do make sense to me. Of course it does bring about a big impact on a lot of people's life and hence benefit a lot of people. But the person doing such an act definitely achieved something higher for himself according to his/her own sense of self and understanding which was why he/she chose to do so.
Now this is not to say that I am belittling any act of kindness. Its just that for some people making a difference to this world speaks to their sense of self as achieving a higher purpose. And everyone wants to have a purpose in life. Its basic nature of any living thing.
Now a Psychopath just happens to have an opposite calling in life. For what ever reason's he/she feels a sense of achievement through acts of violence and hence follows that path. Unfortunately these are things in life that is beyond my understanding for the moment. But of course every action has a reaction, and psychopath's action causes negative feelings to those impacted, so he/she is seen as someone who needs to be removed from existence.
Again to a smaller degree we find people who are happy when they see others happy. Also you see people who find happiness in other people's miseries. And you either help or hinder another person based on your natural tendencies of selfishness. Where you find motivation and happiness makes you choose your actions.
Unfortunately I don't know what makes a person motivated by one thing and another person motivated by another. The why of it is beyond my understanding. But at least I have come to understand and accept that this is the way of the world. Everyone is unique. So unique kind of looses its meaning as a distinguishing factor. And mostly people make the mistake of thinking everyone is the same and what you believe in is what everyone should believe in. But if you can accept that people are different and factor that in with your expectations, I guess life will be a lot easier.
But today, as has been my case for quite a few days in fact, I was still trying to figure out my role. What people call path to realizing one's self or putting it simply - asking myself questions like "who am I?", "Why do I live?", "What's my purpose in life?", "Why do I exist?" etc ...questions that most people ask themselves at some point in their life. Being a female, and therefore prone to multitasking and unable to focus on just one problem, a hundred different thoughts kept flitting across my mind. Among these thoughts happen to be a realization of the truth in the the statement that every person is selfish.
Now I keep hitting jackpot on such questions in life every now and then. But unfortunately I also keep forgetting that I found an answer after a few days, the question itself disappearing from memory. The why of this phenomenon I do not know. But for what ever reason's I wanted to note down this new finding somewhere so it doesn't get lost.
Now dictionary meaning of selfish would be "devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others." And selfless would be "having little or no concern for oneself". Okay, now consider a person you feel is the epitome of selflessness, say he/she self sacrificed for the betterment of a lot of other people. Now what motivates such a person to do so? If they have absolutely no personal stake, this act is never gonna take place.
There is always a sense of achievement for which any action is done. Be it survival or sacrifice. In this case it could be that the person's purpose in life to him/her was this. That person truly believed that this is what he/she was born to do and making a difference to the world because of his/her action was to them the ultimate purpose of life. So actually here the said person is achieving the best for himself by doing what he/she does, and that has in a way nothing to do with anyone else. If this was not so, he or she would never do what was done.
Call me a cynic but this do make sense to me. Of course it does bring about a big impact on a lot of people's life and hence benefit a lot of people. But the person doing such an act definitely achieved something higher for himself according to his/her own sense of self and understanding which was why he/she chose to do so.
Now this is not to say that I am belittling any act of kindness. Its just that for some people making a difference to this world speaks to their sense of self as achieving a higher purpose. And everyone wants to have a purpose in life. Its basic nature of any living thing.
Now a Psychopath just happens to have an opposite calling in life. For what ever reason's he/she feels a sense of achievement through acts of violence and hence follows that path. Unfortunately these are things in life that is beyond my understanding for the moment. But of course every action has a reaction, and psychopath's action causes negative feelings to those impacted, so he/she is seen as someone who needs to be removed from existence.
Again to a smaller degree we find people who are happy when they see others happy. Also you see people who find happiness in other people's miseries. And you either help or hinder another person based on your natural tendencies of selfishness. Where you find motivation and happiness makes you choose your actions.
Unfortunately I don't know what makes a person motivated by one thing and another person motivated by another. The why of it is beyond my understanding. But at least I have come to understand and accept that this is the way of the world. Everyone is unique. So unique kind of looses its meaning as a distinguishing factor. And mostly people make the mistake of thinking everyone is the same and what you believe in is what everyone should believe in. But if you can accept that people are different and factor that in with your expectations, I guess life will be a lot easier.
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