Causes Less Than Yourself, by Robert Gore
This time of year prompts tributes to Causes Greater Than Yourself (CGTY). You’re to count your blessings and rededicate yourself to one or more such causes. Christianity may be on the wane, however, a panoply of secular CGTY have sprung up to replace it and its good works, purportedly filling voids in souls. What’s best not to think about—if you wish to preserve your sanity—is how much of your life you’re devoting to causes less than yourself.
This is an excerpt. To access the full article, please click the above link.
This is an excerpt. To access the full article, please click the above link.
Human life is a value to rational beings. This does not mean that together we achieve more. We can suffer together, and that does not do much for you or me. Another stage precipitates cooperation. And that is the thing itself: rational self-interest. Yes, opposite to the altruists, the strongest bonds are forged in the cooperation and love that evolve from shared, common self-interest. The temptation to place self-interest above rational leaves a man second-handed. Rational above self-interest leaves a man paralyzed. The mind dies, or the body. To survive, it is imperative that at each moment one focus on the marriage between rational and self-interest so that one integrates one's senses, emotions, thoughts, speech, and deeds into a proper hierarchy that supports one's ultimate goal: Life.
i have this framed and posted on my office wall...
posted to facebook...
There was a comment on RT a week or so ago; the poster hoped that "... their leaders would not lead them into war."
Their is great uncertainty all around the world, and America's leaders are dwelling only on whether, or how, Russia influenced the election. Makes one sick.
Tough love says it best: "[Altruism is]...a natural urge that we must resist." I've certainly had real life lessons in the need for tough love.
Altruism is degrading to both the giver and those receiving it, don't you think?
To do so in spite of this natural law, will only promote unhappiness, sickness and a sense of loss, if not a physical loss to boot.
I am beneath his contempt.
Back at ya, bro!
So I agree completely.
At the end, though, it wrongly associates this do-it-for-anyone-but-yourself philosophy with respecting people's rights and protecting the environment. Those are not selfless acts. Refraining from stealing or trashing other people's stuff is not altruism. I say respecting the "rights of heretofor marginalized people" and protecting the environment are the only right and selfish (in the good way) thing to do.