Service to Self is better than Service to Others (Please read before judging!)

Think about it. Service to others is slavery. Service to self is FREEDOM. You get to choose what you want in your own life, and do whatever you want, you don't have to be spinning on your head to make others happy.


By knowing what you want, you can make a good guess about what others are wanting. Deep down inside everyone is a least a little bit selfish. They want happiness and freedom, and because I selfishly want that, I know most others do as well.

I learn helping people and I love giving them the wisdom that I learn, but do you know WHY I do it? Because "I" do not like ignorance, so in my own selfish desire for KNOWLEDGE I learn and THEN - as a RESULT - I share with others...

Service to others will keep you weak. It will keep you pretending for approval just to be a "service" to others. Service to self FORCES you to become more independent and as a result - from that independence - you will learn to be free on your own two feet.

Why should I do the DIS-service of serving people when I can BETTER serve them by teaching them to be strong and NOT depending on others?

If you are not willing to TAKE, do you really have anything to give? How can the moon shine in the night if it doesn't absorb the sun's light? The moon is not shining for "US". It shines because it ABSORBS the light, and as a result it SPREADS.


If one person is doing what they want, they'll be happy, and as a result, when they talk to others, they'll talk with happiness and that happiness will be able to SPREAD.


Service to others is like giving hugs and kisses without actually solving the problem. The problem is WITHIN and it must be dealt with. Putting happy-face stickers around the world trying to make the world seem like a better place - in service of "others" will not change the hidden problem.

People need confidence in themselves, and to be independent and NOT depending on others...


When you focus on strength of yourself:

You begin to love yourself instead of hate and become less likely to judge others....

You begin to feel less "lack" and therefore less greed. You are happy with YOURSELF without all the stuff...


I am not sure why people see service to SELF in such a negative light when there is so much truth and wisdom there.

Have you ever heard of Epicureanism? en.wikipedia.org...

plato.stanford.edu...

reply to post by arpgme

The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the 'Me': of their personal qualities.[2] Egotism means placing oneself at the core of one's world with no concern for others, including those loved or considered as "close," in any other terms except those set by the egotist.

en.wikipedia.org...

I like helping other people and animals in need. You can take your Ayn Rand cult fantasies elsewhere. Selfishness and lack of empathy for others is what we call psychopathy. Corporations work in this very manner, usually screwing over their employees in the process, along with whole economies. Why pay them a 1$ more an hour?! If I keep it, it'll be in my self interest and my happiness will magically trickle down unto them. Righhhhht.

reply to post by arpgme

If you are not willing to TAKE, do you really have anything to give? How can the moon shine in the night if it doesn't absorb the sun's light? The moon is not shining for "US". It shines because it ABSORBS the light, and as a result it SPREADS.

What a lovely analogy

I wont judge, because I agree with you.

The real crime is the justification and celebration of solitude and its communal effects on others..."communal effects" Do you see the disconnect in what you are saying?

See, that already tells you that we are more connected than many realize. Understanding this should be a simple "oh." I don't, and shouldn't spend more than five hundred words pointing this out. It's either "I got it" or "I refuse to believe in such."

Spoiler Alert: You're proving your point by maintaining a necessity in interconnectedness by way of service to others. You're simply masking it under a false guise of separation, which muddles everything and all.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by arpgme

 

The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the 'Me': of their personal qualities.[2] Egotism means placing oneself at the core of one's world with no concern for others, including those loved or considered as "close," in any other terms except those set by the egotist.

en.wikipedia.org...

I like helping other people and animals in need. You can take your Ayn Rand cult fantasies elsewhere. Selfishness and lack of empathy for others is what we call psychopathy. Corporations work in this very manner, usually screwing over their employees in the process, along with whole economies. Why pay them a 1$ more an hour?! If I keep it, it'll be in my self interest and my happiness will magically trickle down unto them. Righhhhht.

I am of the same breed. I find most apathy comes from those whom rarely if ever, have know desperation. I spent a long time living on the streets as a teenager, even now, I find most kindness comes from those who know it's value.

We have enough people in this world looking out for just themselves, should be a law against it /s

Humans are natural sharers. Selfishness has to be learned. Or taught.

Originally posted by yourmaker
Have you ever heard of Epicureanism? en.wikipedia.org...

plato.stanford.edu...

Yes. I have.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by arpgme

 

I like helping other people and animals in need.

Nice. Did I ever argue against that? No, I didn't. I simply said that instead of helping people all the time, we should teach them to help themselves so that they can be independent and free from depending on others. Helping a person in their struggle is OK. Becoming "service to others" and always giving, giving, giving, instead of teaching them to be independent and do things by themselves is another story.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by arpgme

 

You can take your Ayn Rand cult fantasies elsewhere.

I don't believe in Ayn Rand, as if Ayn Rand made up this idea anyway. I'm sure it existed WAY before him, in fact it did since even animals knew better than to keep depending on others and to actually DO for themselves.

A "cult", no that belongs to people who want to give, give, give, to a lord, master, or guru...

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by arpgme

 

Selfishness and lack of empathy for others is what we call psychopathy.

Then every single human and animals alive is a "psychopath" if that is what selfishness is. Everyone is selfish to some extent and to say otherwise is to be a liar.

People help others to feel good about themselves, that they "did" something for another. People do good to avoid hell (and to go to a heaven - thinking about self again). People do good because they want to be treated the same way. All considering SELF.

Now, lack of empathy ? When did I ever say that it is good to have a lack of empathy? Oh right, I didn't.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by arpgme

 

Corporations work in this very manner, usually screwing over their employees in the process, along with whole economies. Why pay them a 1$ more an hour?! If I keep it, it'll be in my self interest and my happiness will magically trickle down unto them. Righhhhht.

And you know what the corporations are doing? GIVING people jobs!

People sit like slaves in a factory working all day for a "dollar" knowing that they are being taken advantage of but they allow it to happen, why? Because they don't think about They have low SELF-esteem, so they don't speak up. This is what happens when you begin to hate the SELF or try to put focus on another. You get scare to speak up when you are being taken advantage of.

Originally posted by arpgme

Service to self is FREEDOM.

No. Service to self is our DEFAULT modus operandi. Self-preservation, the imperative to seek pleasure and avoid pain, etc., are demonstrations of your will to survive. All you're doing when you service yourself is acting in obedience to the primary objectives given by your brain in order to preserve and protect itself. There's nothing "free" about it - it's simply compliance to a set of instructions you were born with.

It is when we act in service of OTHERS that we actually have freedom ... because, as it were, we're not commanded to act in the service of others - but we choose to.

reply to post by followtheevidence


Service to others ? You're joking right?

Perhaps thousands of years ago, when we were hunter gatherers, self preservation was our primary instinct.

I feel we have somewhat evolved from those times. We are social animals. Like many animals. I don't see them bitching that they must Service the others.

Be with whatever is arising.
Any belief about having to do life a certain way is going to be a rule - which is not freedom. A plan to act a certain way will fail, it will make you feel like a failure.
Accept whatever arises.

'Be good' is where all the trouble starts.

reply to post by arpgme


This is Ayn Rand (female) on the value of selfishness:
youtu.be...

Originally posted by AdamOver
reply to post by followtheevidence

 

Service to others ? You're joking right?

Perhaps thousands of years ago, when we were hunter gatherers, self preservation was our primary instinct.

I feel we have somewhat evolved from those times. We are social animals. Like many animals. I don't see them bitching that they must Service the others.

Soooooo ... the primary instinct to survive has ... evolved?

Into what? I remember learning about this most basic of imperatives in multiple classes in college.

The problem is, you're viewing the entire spectrum in the wrong light. Instead of viewing "generosity" and "selfishness" as two different things, why don't you try being both at the same time? Nobody is telling you that if you place yourself as top priority, that you can't continue to "give" to others.

For some reason you've seemed to paint them in a black & white light, when in reality, they have no problem being merged together. Try it!


Cheers,
Nos

Originally posted by Nostalgic
The problem is, you're viewing the entire spectrum in the wrong light. Instead of viewing "generosity" and "selfishness" as two different things, why don't you try being both at the same time? Nobody is telling you that if you place yourself as top priority, that you can't continue to "give" to others.

For some reason you've seemed to paint them in a black & white light, when in reality, they have no problem being merged together. Try it!


Cheers,
Nos

Are you sure you read the entire original post? No where did I paint a "light" and "black" light. I even said that by doing what you want for yourself you will be happier and people will notice your happiness when you interact with them influencing them to be happy.

Is this some Ayn rand phlosophy?
Well it's just plain selfish.

Spare me the I helped them learn justifications.

One day you may need others to help you and they won't because you never helped them.

I'm disabled and require assistance every day of my life. I wasn't born this way and I didn't like my new life of always needing help. I had to get lessons on how to ask for help because i couldnt do it. I'm not a taker, never had been.

Lots of times complete strangers will offer to give me a hand as they pass by and do you know how nice that is? So glad everybody isn't like you.

I'm very insulted by your post.

reply to post by arpgme

If you are not willing to TAKE, do you really have anything to give? How can the moon shine in the night if it doesn't absorb the sun's light? The moon is not shining for "US". It shines because it ABSORBS the light, and as a result it SPREADS.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought the moon REFLECTED light?

reply to post by followtheevidence


We have, at least most of us have, evolved into a stage where survival is no longer the primary instinct. Yes, it's still there. But beneath our other instincts.
You know, those instincts that makes us want to help those in need, without the desire for recompense. And certainly not feeling we are in Service of others. A most strange turn of phrase.

Love thy neighbour as thyself.
If you do not know how to love yourself - how would you know how to love another?

In a plane crash you are advised to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others.

Did you hear about the monkey who pulled the fish from the water to save it's life?

reply to post by arpgme

I simply said that instead of helping people all the time, we should teach them to help themselves so that they can be independent and free from depending on others.

No one helps others every waking minute. And by the way you are speaking it is very obvious you have never been in need as a lot of the time....PEOPLE CAN'T HELP THEMSELVES.

If a person does not have any insurance and has a medical ailment requiring a prescription, if they do not get it, they will die. If you buy it for them, or give them your left over pills, it is against your self interest, but it means the world to the person receiving it. They have absolutely no way to get the funds on their own. They are also dependent on;

1. Pills
2. Pharmaceutical companies
3. Trucks that drive the pharmaceuticals to the store
4. Doctors to write the prescription
5. Petroleum fuel
5. Everything else....

You're dependent on a million different things yourself. This "dependent" argument is senseless because you cannot make everything you may need in life to survive, like medicine. Unless you live on a farm, you are dependent on corporations to ship FOOD to your area, and another corporation to put it in a store, for you to purchase. You can in no way believe any sort of "independent" ideology unless you are 100% self sufficient. Money doesn't buy true independence.

Helping a person in their struggle is OK. Becoming "service to others" and always giving, giving, giving, instead of teaching them to be independent and do things by themselves is another story.

This goes against your entire OP, as you said people should only be fixated on their own self interest. Now you are just backtracking.

in fact it did since even animals knew better than to keep depending on others and to actually DO for themselves.

There are a ton of animals that depend on one another, like most primates! Humans are one of them.....as we depend on social contact or we go absolutely insane.

Then every single human and animals alive is a "psychopath" if that is what selfishness is. Everyone is selfish to some extent and to say otherwise is to be a liar.

Incorrect, most humans have the ability to feel empathy. Psychopaths who are born such, tend to have damage to areas of the brain that process emotion. You can be an incredibly selfish person and still feel guilt for the things you do, psychopaths won't.

People help others to feel good about themselves, that they "did" something for another.

Here you go again, showing your psychopathy. Maybe you do, since you have a ego problem. But if I tend to help someone, say I give them a ride to work...I'm doing that to make myself feel better? Are you kidding me. I probably did it so they wouldn't get fired......

And you know what the corporations are doing? GIVING people jobs!

Incorrect, without the worker there would be no corporation, without the consumer there would be no profit in order to create a job. It's all an interdependent system upon one another, I know, you hate to hear that, but it's true.

People sit like slaves in a factory working all day for a "dollar" knowing that they are being taken advantage of but they allow it to happen, why? Because they don't think about They have low SELF-esteem, so they don't speak up.

LOL?! Are you kidding me? They do it because they live in extreme poverty and are forced to or starve. You should also study history a bit, when workers would organize, form unions, or protest...they would end up killed a lot of the times BY THE CORPORATIONS. It still happens in lesser developed countries, with those slave wages. They are there by force, threats, and no other choice.

colombiajournal.org...

This is what happens when you begin to hate the SELF or try to put focus on another. You get scare to speak up when you are being taken advantage of

No, this is what happens when someone has a gun to your head. If someone robbed you at gunpoint, pretty sure you're going to give up all the goods, 99% of people do.

Look at the monkeys helping one another...... VIRGIL COULD HAVE TAKEN ALL THE NUTS, BUT HE DIDN'T, HE SHARED....against his own self interest.