Selflessness...

The subject of selflessness came up yesterday.

Question:  Is it ever possible for humans to be truly selfless? 
 

Other than what can be found in the lower animal world via instinct, regarding humans, I think the answer must be “no.”  Humans cannot be selfless.  Let me try to make my case.

Let’s start simple.  You hand $5 bucks out the window to someone on the corner asking for some help?  In helping that person, was that truly a selfless gesture, or did it make you feel better about yourself; that you did what you could to help?

Let’s up the stakes and complicate it more.  You do what you can to raise your children, providing for their basic needs and even wants.  You hope to, indeed do, turn out a crop of upstanding citizens, who themselves go on to produce the next crop of upstanding citizens.  You, as a proud parent, now feel personally successful in that parenting task.  I.e., you feel good about you, and that your hard efforts didn’t fail.  While you undoubtedly feel love toward your offspring (but we’re not talking about “love” here), was what you did really selfless, or was it done as much for your own pride and joy, feeling of success, peace of mind, personal conscientious well-being, meeting your responsibly, etc., as for your offspring's benefit?

Other examples: You give blood, you donate to charity, you work at a soup kitchen on Christmas, you help out a neighbor who has a dead car battery, you… .

Okay, you see where I’m going with this.  And I hope you noticed all those selfish “you’s.” 😉 Point being, whatever we do, we also do, whether directly or indirectly, for the self.  No?

Now let’s briefly look at the animal world.  Take a bird.  The parent(s), via instinct, tirelessly go find food for the helpless babies.  When danger shows up, they will protect their babies from predators, even at… in spite of… their own peril.  There is nothing fiercer than an animal protecting its young, even in David and Goliath situations.  Other than providing for their offspring’s well-being, there is no deep emotional love-attachment on an animal's part toward its babies (or is there? We could make another OP out of that, but to continue…).  Once the hawk successfully grabs the baby and flies off with it, there will be no tears shed by the parents.  They will just continue on with business as usual.  What they did for their offspring was all done without emotion and without any perceived benefits to the self.  No?

So, my conclusion is, while you may think and believe that you can be totally selfless, when all is said and done, what you do, you also do for the self/yourself, and in every circumstance.

Make your case and try to prove me wrong.  I'll offer kudos if you can. 😊

Authored by Primal Soup