Is it better to be selfish, or selfless? To what degree?

Answer 1

You can't be selfless. No one can no matter how much they give out. Why? Because by helping others, you help yourself, it's a way of being selfish. ;)

Answer 2

Selfless but not to the point where you disappear and not get your rights. Selfish only if it will benefit others as well, such as a job in which could hold a family together. Not selfless to the point where you have no privacy at all. Selfish not to the degree of dominating others' space and privacy. We are by nature selfish. But the normal ,i think, is in between both. having them both balanced and not to exploit either one.

Answer 3

I'd say neither, totally. You do have to be a little selfish sometimes; otherwise you'd give away everything you have and then you'd need help.
But being selfless is usually better because, for one thing, it let's you break out of the prison of the ego.
We could get into a long discussion here about whether "pure" altruism actually exists, for even when you do something selflessly, it almost certainly makes you feel good. So, you do get some "reward."
I truly believe that people will always do whatever they THINK will make them "happier." The rub, of course, is that they're often quite wrong about that.

Answer 4

Selfless, to be selfless you gain much more then being selfish, you gain not only things that need to be learned but also an understanding of what others need also.

Answer 5

I've been both and I still can't figure out the balance. When I'm selfish I am riddled with guilt and when I'm selfless, I feel vulnerable. I would give my lunch to a hungry stray dog, without hesitation, but when someone on the street comes up and asks me for money, I say No. I would help an old lady carry her heavy load, but I've also refused to help a friend out when she needed a loan from me. I still regret that decision.

Joan of Arc, Jesus, Mahatma Ghandi, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela...They were all martyrs for their causes. I admire each one of them, not for any religious reasons, but because they dedicated their lives to a cause and became selfless to that cause, so much so that they risked persecution, imprisonment, torture, death. When I think of selflessness, I hold these people as the highest role models.

Please note that I think of Jesus as a man, not a God, and he is on equal footing with all the others.

Answer 6

All actions are selfish to an extent. Even if it is an apparently selfless act such as self-sacrifice, there is almost bound to be a selfish reason behind it.

Answer 7

Better to be selfless. enough so that you can help others around you that are in need, but not so much to the point that it results in your own suffering.

Answer 8

Have you considered that to be selfless is to be selfish?

Answer 9

It is better to be selfless- to help others. I know when I help others, then I feel good about myself.

Answer 10

selfish--to help myself out in times of need. selfless to help others in their time of need.