On Selfishness

Laura

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“There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”
Oscar Wilde

“All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.”
Oscar Wilde

“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.”
Jane Austen

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.”
Oscar Wilde


“One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.”
Mother Teresa

“The one who loves the least, controls the relationship.”
Dr. Robert Anthony

“It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it, and the rest of us.”
Dr. Laurence J. Peter

“Those who do not hate their own selfishness and regard themselves as more important than the rest of the world are blind because the truth lies elsewhere”
Blaise Pascal
 
I don't have any quotes to share about this but maybe an observation will do.

I've noticed that in my own life that even though the word "selfish" has never been used to describe me, I think in a sense, I have been one of the most selfish people I know. It wasn't material things I wanted so much as "control".
Because I grew up trying to make my younger brothers "behave" I became heavily invested in trying to learn control techniques for that purpose.
To me, this was extreme selfishness because it fed my need to avoid fear and punishment. It also gave me a sense of being in control of others so that my ideas of the "proper" behavior were the ideas that reigned, so to speak.
Also, if there was any "hidden universal truths" to be uncovered, I was the one who should discover them because I would know best how to use the discovery for everyones benefit and, of course, to increase my ability to exercise control.
Kind of disgusting huh?
Today, I like to think my understanding has matured because I no longer feel these kinds of impulses. Or at least, they're not as obvious to me as they used to be.
I see selfishness as dividing thusly:
1) A rational self-interest kind of thing as exemplified in the efforts to improve one's health to increase energy available for the Work.
2) A destructive self-interest that has entropy as a characteristic. Sort of like pulling something towards oneself when one really doesn't have any need for it at the time.

I'm still learning, however, so I may still be a little lop-sided, but this seems to be where I sit at the moment.
 
“Twin-sister of Religion, Selfishness” -Percy Bysshe Shelley

“You can't get unless you give. And you have to give without wanting to get.” - Theodore H. White

“We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for.” -Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” -Earl Wilson

“Ego has a voracious appetite, the more you feed it, the hungrier it gets.” -Nathaniel Bronner Jr.

So true!
 
“All endeavors which are directed to a purely worldly end, contain within themselves the seeds of their own corruption.” Theodore H. White

“If at the end of the week's work, and on receiving his wages, he were to ask his employer for a larger sum, pleading that, though he could not justly claim it and did not really deserve it, yet he expected it, he would not only receive the larger sum but would, doubtless, be discharged from his post. Yet in spiritual things men do not think it to be either foolish or selfish to ask for these blessings” James Allen
 
"The wretch concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored and unsung."
Walter Scott: The Lay of the Last Minstrel

"He that eats his fowl alone must saddle his horse alone."
Spanish proverb

Mac
 
Victor Hugo said:
Freedom is about choosing between two forms of slavery : selfishness or consciousness. The one who chooses consciouness is the free man.

Original quotation (in French) : La liberté consiste à choisir entre deux esclavages : l'égoïsme et la conscience. Celui qui choisit la conscience est l'homme libre.
 
Laura said:
“It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I ran across a few other related quotes from Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the latest issue of the Idaho Observer:

"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in a lie. One word of truth outweighs the world."

"Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?"

"Only voluntary inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

A few more less-related to selfishness:

"Liberalism was inevitably displaced by radicalism. Radicalism had to surrender to socialism and socialism could never resist Communism [and I would add, Communism becomes a thin veil for Fascism].

"There are a number of prisoners in our camps which are termed criminals, but most of them never committed any crime, they merely tried to defend themselves against a lawless state resorting to means outside of the legal framework."

"Such as it is, the press has become the greatest power within the Western World, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would ask, by whom has it been elected and to whom is it responsible?"

"Precisely because my speech is prompted by friendship, that I have come to tell you; my friends, I'm not going to give you sugary words. The situation in the world is not dangerous, it isn't just threatening, it is catastrophic!"
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

These quotes, I think, can be associated with the core of this forum - Truth and Reality. The strength demonstrated here is important to me and helps very much on occasions when the truth of what is happening strikes so deeply and those around me seem to see nothing at all.

Thanks Much All,
LQB
 
Laura said:
“There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it, and the rest of us.”
Dr. Laurence J. Peter

there is no escaping it while being here. I think my reason for being here is my learning and my growing in awareness, but I can choose to show and really care for the development of others, learning through others perspectives. edit: escaping the predators mind.
 
Altruism should be the antidote for selfishness, and STO path its demonstration.

A good example:

"Anonymity is the most genuine expression of altruism."
Eric Gibson
 
If you remember yourself as someone who did not need a reason to help others and you are currently lonely, having trouble relating to others, lacking support and you feel a hint of resentment every time someone asks you for help that does not allow you to reconcile with yourself and your environment, it is because at some point, consciously or not, you began to have expectations according to your personal interests in helping others. You have dented your altruism and started to feed your selfishness.

Above all thoughts that invite you to continue an endless war in your mind, A war in a fog-covered field where you send and send your thoughts to fight and you think there is a fight just by hearing them in the distance colliding with each other when you can't even really make out what is going on. Remember when you gave the order to start it and allow yourself to lose that war in which only oneself is ally and enemy, so you can find your peace.

The more satisfied our selfishness is, more robust is our belief. - George Eliot.

The more you make this world about you, the more miserable you will be. - Matt Chandler.

"We are interested in taking care of others. Egocentrism is opposed to basic human nature. In our self-interest as human beings, we must pay attention to our inner values. Sometimes people think that compassion is only of help to others, while we do not get any benefit. This is a mistake. When you care about others, you naturally develop a sense of self-confidence. Helping others requires courage and inner strength." - Dalai Lama
 
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