The Importance Of Selfishness
Maybe if everyone is selfish, life would be better.
Maybe if everyone becomes selfish, life will be better.
What if I tell you that your idea of selfishness has been all wrong? It could be correct, but most people have it wrong all this while. Selfishness is being about one’s self, but in reality, it is to different people at different degrees. The world currently experiences selfishness in several different ways.
To a person, it’s all about themselves only. To others, their selfishness is about themselves and their family. To someone else, their selfishness is about them and their religion. This selfishness can also extend to nationality, ethnicity, etc.
The issue here is these various degrees or levels of selfishness are exclusive of the other. Each variant of selfishness only cares about or wants their group of individuals to be well, to be okay, to succeed, to be taken care of, and to do well in life. And that’s all they care about. Their little circle of individuals their selfishness is inclusive of.
Shouldn’t We All Be Selfless?
There is no such thing as being selfless. To my understanding, that’s just an idea that has never really come to reality. Better put, it’s a wrong term we often use to describe what we want to express as selfishness. Let me explain, don’t worry, you’ll understand. There is no such thing as selflessness, only inclusive selfishness, and exclusive selfishness. This is because you cannot experience life without yourself.
What we refer to as selflessness is inclusive selfishness on a broad scale. Instead of limiting selfishness to just yourself, your family, tribe, nation, race, or religion, why not extend it to every single entity on this planet? Start to see every being as a part of each other that comes from the same source.
How Does Selfishness Become Important?
Now, this is it. If we experience life universally instead of by our individuality, we wouldn’t need anyone to tell us not to hurt another man or the next person.
When we begin to see ourselves as who we are beyond societal norms, not solely individuals, but individual pieces of a larger body. Only then can the world experience true unity and peace. The importance and impact of our social nervous system are essential to understanding the precise concept of selfishness.
In plain words, You have to be selfish before you can be selfless.
Think About This For A Second
You were made from something, particles of dust or matter (whichever you choose to believe), and your entire body is a combination of different cells that function together for you to live.
When you die, you return to the earth (in the form of dust which you originated from). Some people believe in reincarnation, meaning you can return to exist as something or someone else. Cool.
This tells us that, whether you believe death is the end or you return as someone else, A similarity with both schools of thought is everyone first returns to their original state before creation.
This means that you were once a part of what forms the earth and will eventually return to that same state (dust) when you die. So in an in-depth sense of it, we are all just smaller cells of one macro body – the universe. Why do we allow tiny bits of what we perceive as “knowledge” of our existence to cause a polarity, and lead to conflicts?
Before you decide to stop reading, you should know this, as it is, there’s nothing to this life other than the role we play and the impact we have on people and places that encounter us. Not “making it,” not so-called success. In the real sense, what matters is you being good (everyone has an idea of what is good and bad) and doing good before your maker, creator, another big bang, or death calls you back to your original state.
When we begin to live our lives inclusive of the next person, when we start seeing them as another fragment of our being, rather than competition (irrespective of where they come from or what they look like), we will live peaceably with one another and more people will be content with what they have.
This is because we will begin to see others as a part of ourselves. In that way, we can comfortably love our neighbors as ourselves. Think about how selfish you are, the things you could never do to yourself, then extend that selfishness to everyone in every place you find yourself. The world would be a better place for all of us.
Originally published in Medium and Facebook group named Write To Inspire.
This is a very thoughtful article, I love your angle and I’ve never thought of it that way. we humans tend to be thoughtful of ourselves alone. I agree with extending selfishness towards every other person/entity like you are to yourself and treat every other person the way you would like to be treated. that way, the world would definitely be a better place. Nice write up 👏🏽