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RE: Optimism at the End of the World #10 : Selfishness and Selflessness - The two are not at odds
Excellent post.
Pockets of greedy minorities, set the tone in many ways, and in many places. They took advantage of hospitality across the world, saw it as a weakness, and proceeded to destroy trust. Colonising along the way.
It is impossible to reverse, but not impossible to progress.
Generations handing down grievances, in the form of a fashionable chip on the shoulder, has become common-place in a lot of societies, but not all.
We are not shaped by the truth, we are shaped by the way history is taught. There is nothing natural about selfishness, that has been taught, and is still being taught....
We are naturally selfless, with innate fight or flight or feed tendencies, designed only for defense purposes.
Read are we racist...
It is wrong to lump everyone into the same category, so to say we are all this or that is not correct. We tend to make generalizations, and that can be used to make a point. I agree with the original post and this response, but wish to add one comment for something to think about:
In the USA (which is supposed to be the richest country) where abundance is plentiful, why do we still see so much greed?
Not disagreeing with you, but what do you define as greed? My idea of greed is trying to gain no matter how it hurts others. So, I'm not sure there is "so much greed" in the US. I think it's more like a few greedy people/ companies that end up controlling a large part of the economy because of their greed. But the majority of Americans I meet aren't greedy.
Excellent question @kendewitt.
I suppose I define greed as not being satisfied with having enough to be comfortable. So many strive to keep up with all the excesses they see others having and want the same.
Abundance with fear is no true abundance. As I said above, we are made to feel that we don't have enough, no matter how much we have. We worry at we will lose what we have and that the world is not trustworthy enough to help us. We also confuse freedom with egoism and think that having so much more than others is a natural goal to pursue, rather than seeking opportunities to bring others up with us.
Lots of programming to undo.
Absolutely a lot of programming needs to be undone.
Believe it or not, it took losing practically everything I worked for in order for me to lose my fear of losing everything! Perhaps that is why poor people are often happier than wealthy people? The poor have nothing to lose and thus no fear?
So easy to believe because I went through the same thing. ;-)
I don't really think there is any correlation between happiness and wealth whatsoever. I find 95% of people to be some kind of unhappy regardless of other factors until they deprogram and face their fears.
Beautifully put, I'll be paying attention to your posts and checking out the article you linked. You sound like a true ally in the quest to realize the true potential of humanity :-)