It is better to be selfish than to be unselfish. Being selfish means you are independent, free, rich, polite and all the good you could think. However selfish doesn't mean you are dishonest, crazy, unreal or unjust. People usually think being selfish is wrong and being unselfish is right. But this way of looking at the philosophy has caused a tremendous damage to our human civilization on this earth.
Right from the childhood we learn that we should follow altruism, but that is a wrong programming that we grow with. Our parents expect us to be helpful and look after others when in times of needs and we feel obliged to extend our help because we think it is a natural law to be altruistic.
When we travel by planes, we normally hear,'first put on your oxygen mask and then if you can, help secure other's mask. This is truth. This is not being selfish. The people when they are flying in the sky they understand that the guideline is not selfish and they follow in the sky, but the moment they land on the earth, the whole thing turns upside down. We must follow the same thing here on earth too. It applies more here in our daily activities.
If people understand their purpose in life, they will definitely prefer to be selfish and they will be ambitious in order satisfy or achieve their goals. It is our choice in life that determines what we will do with our values and virtues. We get deeply programmed in our childhood that we hardly recognize the unreal aspects of our personality. All the time we live a false life and we understand that is the best life we ever have.
The religions of the world consider God as the highest good and humans as incapable and insignificant beings that can never be perfect or without sin. Therefore to atone for the errors, the humans must do altruistic tasks to please the highest good God to forgive the sin committed. And if humans are altruistic, God should be pleased to allow them live a life on earth. Therefore, self-sacrifice is good from religious perspective. But it is not sensible to convince us.
Humans must use their reasons, that is their mind to think through the reality and then accept what gives happiness. We have individual goals and that individual goals must be pursued by us individually. The achievement of our goals give us the happiness that we are here on earth to enjoy. Therefore, we must be selfish in good sense to own all the wealth, prosperity, health, money, freedom etc.
We must create a new perspective to see our life and live a high standard of life. We must pursue our own dreams and live our dreams. There is no point of sacrificing our dreams in order to give a push to others' dreams. There are people who only like to mooch, cadge and be dependent on others for their well-being and that is actually sin because these people don't apply properly their skills, talents, abilities to harness the good things of life.
Be selfish enough to fulfil your goals so that you won't regret later in life. Be what you can be, have what you can be, enjoy however you can, live how you can and give how you can. It is all your life and your objective and there is nobody on your way to obstruct you. Be selfish in creating your own beautiful life story here on earth so that it will become a legacy.
Alwed Ekka
Guide Coach Mentor
