Oftentimes we see egoism and selflessness as two opposing polar. If you are selfless, you think about others without expecting any return (except perhaps, self-satisfaction). If you are an egoist, you value yourself above everyone else and do not even care about others (except if they are beneficial to us). However, I see myself (or maybe, my ideal self) as being the third option constituted out of the two: a selfless egoist!
Wait, what does ‘selfless egoist’ even mean? You are either an egoist or a selfless person, just like you were either born a male or female. How is that even possible that you are an egoist and selfless at the same time? To understand what I mean by being a ‘selfless egoist’, I would like to share a story that hopefully might help you understand my point.
When I was studying at the university, I was exposed to many volunteer-based organizations and activities. Student union, religious organization, social movement, charity, all the options are available to me. And out of curiosity, I even joined some of them. That’s where I learned something important: to be selfless, care about others.
In a volunteer-based activity, you are not paid for your contribution. You may gain some recognition from your colleague, but that’s just it. Most of the time you must invest your time and even sacrifice yourself because nobody else does it. It feels painful sometimes, but you gain something important in return.
However, doing it too much is prone to become a mere routine. Usually, volunteer-based activity can be done by virtually anyone (as long as they are willing to allocate the time and effort needed). But that’s where the problem lies: if you are doing it too much, you may end up not improving yourself. I don’t mean that volunteer activity is bad (on the contrary, it’s positive and the world needs it!) But being absorbed too much in helping others while forgetting yourself can be harmful too.
On the other hand, passionately improving ourselves without first having a noble goal in mind can be derailing too. What’s the purpose of your life if not for helping others? With all the power you have, what do you make of it? Without such an understanding of the importance of contributing to the greater cause, we end up falling into the pitfall of selfishness. Therefore, there should be a balance between improving oneself and selflessly helping others.
Moreover, there is also this issue: while volunteer-based activity is good and to some extent needed by the world, there are also things that can only be done by someone with a certain capacity. Meaning, there are things in this world that cannot be done by everyone. There has to be someone special doing it.
So, how do we connect the dots? First of all, I believe that volunteer spirit is the right track. You should contribute to the greater cause, to the betterment of society. Purely egoistic pursuit just won’t do. In other words, your goal in life should be related one way or another to selflessly helping other(s).
However, the world has a lot of problems. Some of them can be solved simply by enough people and resources, but some of them can only be solved by certain people. This is where your egoistic desire and selfless tendency meets: find something, related to the greater cause, that only you can do!
Curing cancer, developing economic equality, solving environmental problems – those are some of the most famous problems, aside from the more subtle ones. A pure selfish person won’t even care about it, and a mere selfless person won’t be able to do it because they lack the qualification. Only a selfless egoist can do it! Those who have the ego to relentlessly improve themselves while at the same time always think selflessly about others.
Selfless egoists are the ones who always think about how to improve themselves for the sake of others. They won’t be satisfied with a mere chore that everyone can do. They want to contribute more, but they realize that such a great impact can only be done by those who have the necessary power to do so. “Help ourselves to help others” is their jargon.
However, unfortunately it’s as if the world is divided into the selfless and the egoist. The selfless ones “sacrifice” themselves for others, but they ended up being just ordinary person with no special capacity whatsoever. The egoists rule the world, but the world for them is just a tool for further improving themselves, even at the expense of others. The world is increasingly in need of selfless egoists.
jurisarrozy 