Do people gain more from being selfish or from being selfless.........?

Question

selfish people want to get theirs, so to speak. do they get more than people who are selfless? why or why not?

if someone thought more good things came to them from being selfless, could they become selfishly selfless? where does true empathy come from?

Answer 1

"It's a Middle Path"... :-)

Ideally one's actions should benefit 'oneself & others', if not more one than the other.

I think one should protect / help / develop oneself IN ORDER TO BETTER help others; and help others in order to (ultimately / karmically) better help oneself.

If it's selfishness, its enlightened, truly foresighted 'selfishness'.

Practically, we help each other, 'symbiotically'. Like trapeze artists.

What goes around, comes around, n'est-ce pas?

We're all the same on the inside, and in the same boat. One big global, universal family. :-)

Good Question.

Peace, man. :-)

Answer 2

It depends. You can be selfless, and you gain a lot of friends. You can still keep a little for yourself, and be a good person. If your in trouble there are always people willing to help you out. Or, you can just be taken advantage of.
You can be selfish and get rich and have nice things. Or things might not work out. Then when you need help people wont be there for you. I think that you are either born one way or another. My brother is very selfish, always has been. I'm usually willing to share. I'm not saying that hes a bad guy, I just think that some people value things more than others.

Answer 3

I believe that in the short term people who are selfish may have gained more than one who was selfless.
I believe that in the longe term people who are selfless may have gained more than that of the selfish.
I believe this because I have been selfless my life through, and those who were selfish and took what they could get from me and from others in the short term...Actally lost in the long run because they are now hurting with no one to help them. Except those of us who have been selfless, and the selfish do not want to ask for help...because they would not help someone who had been selfish with them.
On the last question, I do not know because it has not happened to me. But in my mind and heart anything is possible.
My empathy comes from my desire to embrace people with a sense of care and understanding when they need help. It comes from my heart.

Answer 4

Good question. I like how you worded it. For me, I think people gain more by being selfless. When we do things out of selfish motives, we are seeking our own benefit, and as such, we are not so concerned for how something benefits others. When we do things out of unselfish motives, then we are putting the consideration for others as a priority and when others are treated right, they will almost always want to pass that goodness on. For this reason, I enjoy giving gifts so much more than receiving them because to see someone enjoy something I gave them is far more pleasant to me than receiving something only for me. By giving to someone else and enjoying their happiness as a result, I would also be reaping the benefit of that gift. So in that sense, it could be considered selfish, but yet not so. It becomes selfishly selfless when one is not truly being selfless, but rather is merely trying to APPEAR selfless in order to selfishly satisfy their own desire to look good to others.

For me though, the more I can do things for others, without a focus being on myself, the more joy I experience, and hence, the more I gain.

Answer 5

There is no such thing as true selflessness in the realm of the human world. All things we do, whether we due them blatantly for ourselves or whether we do them under the guise of altruism ultimately benefit us in some way.

The difference between what we consider "selfish" (wanting money, power, etc.) and what we consider "selfless" (wanting to be a better person, wanting to get closer to God) is that one is material and one is emotional or spiritual.

The majority of human beings do good or "selfless" things out of fear of retribution. They are either afraid on a physical plane (i.e. going to jail, suffering physical injury, being fined, losing something they have, not getting something they want, being rejected, etc.) or on a spiritual plain (i.e. going to hell, not making God happy, reaping bad karma, etc.)

That is all that most religions do....instill a fear of retribution on a spiritual plane. It is simply a means of self-control. For example, you will not steal something because you might go to jail. This is fear of retribution on a physical plane, however you might still steal something if no one was around and you wouldn't get caught. However, if you are "religious" you will not steal because you ALSO fear God getting mad at you, bad karma, not being "good" in God's eyes, etc...

So in essence, you are still selfish. You are not doing something good because it is a good thing to do. You are doing it because you don't want the negative effects from doing something bad.

Therefore, no one can be truly selfless. Being selfish is like having skin, it's part of being human. If you are not a believer of the teachings of Christ, then I'm not sure where your journey of truth will lead. If you are a Christian, you may be comforted with the notion that it doesn't matter because God's grace is sufficient to cover all your selfishness.

Answer 6

To answer the last question first, true empathy comes from associating with penguins...

I tend to be of the "no such thing as a selfless act" school of thinking. But then I don't view selfishness in inherently pejorative terms. Selfishness can be positive, self-centredness not so much.

Answer 7

Everything has it's selfish motive. Almost every person (if not every person) seeks a life path in which there is the most to gain (in their perspective). For some people there is more to gain from selflessness, and for others there is more to gain from being selfish.

Answer 8

You get more self worth by being selfless. You feel better about yourself. If you are selfish then you always have to have more and you aren't ever satisfied.

Hugs

Answer 9

There is a difference between loving yourself and harming others.

Loving yourself and others.....is the best reward.

My answer is true empathy, is neither selfless or selfish. True empathy is all encompassing.

Answer 10

Ye people gain by being selfish ... but that is materialistic , quick and does not lasts ... it is the vice versa for selflessness

Answer 11

Selflessness feels good.

True empathy comes from understanding & being able to put yourself in others shoes :-)