Speech on no act is truly selfless
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I will start off with the suggestion a lot of people make: we act selflessly because it makes us feel happy. That is true. But that also isn't the complete picture. For a better understanding, you have to ask more questions:
WHY does acting selflessly make us feel happy? Because our brains are wired that way, through either genetics, or cultural upbringing (i.e. social values instilled in us)
WHY are our brains wired that way? Because of natural selection; a community of people whose brains are wired so that they trip out on helping each other, was in the past (and probably still is) more likely to survive than a community of people who act only for their own benefit.
For most of our evolutionary history we weren't the strongest, or fastest animal on the savanna, but we developed tools and co-operation. Working in groups, we could defend and protect the vulnerable effectively against predators, and we could take down large prey and feed our communities. This formula for success puts a massive emphasis on co-operation, and working and living as a community.
Through eons of natural selection, communities in which traits developed that would be more likely to survive. Communities in which there were no such traits were more likely to fail. Survival of the fittest - selflessness helps us survive as a community.
Probably the most basic form and definitely the one that most easily comes to mind is financial selflessness. In layman’s terms it can be described as donating money to those who are in need, but it isn’t as cut and dried as you may think. For example, investing in a fortune 500 company is not an act of financial selflessness, yet investing in a nonprofit organization is. Loaning twenty bucks to a friend is not an act of financial selflessness although giving a handful of change to a homeless beggar is. So what is it that distinguishes an act of financial selflessness from a mundane act of generosity? No matter the magnitude of the donation, what makes the act truly selfless is the intention. Only if you don’t expect to receive anything in return are you being completely selfless. Alms-giving is the archetypal example, but other, less acknowledged forms of financial selflessness exist as well, such as, relieving someone from his/her debt without any personal gain or providing financial assistance to a non-profit cause you believe in. In a way these acts provide more than just money for those who don’t have enough. They provide hope for a brighter future. And hope provides the energy to keep climb the ladder of success.
WHY does acting selflessly make us feel happy? Because our brains are wired that way, through either genetics, or cultural upbringing (i.e. social values instilled in us)
WHY are our brains wired that way? Because of natural selection; a community of people whose brains are wired so that they trip out on helping each other, was in the past (and probably still is) more likely to survive than a community of people who act only for their own benefit.
For most of our evolutionary history we weren't the strongest, or fastest animal on the savanna, but we developed tools and co-operation. Working in groups, we could defend and protect the vulnerable effectively against predators, and we could take down large prey and feed our communities. This formula for success puts a massive emphasis on co-operation, and working and living as a community.
Through eons of natural selection, communities in which traits developed that would be more likely to survive. Communities in which there were no such traits were more likely to fail. Survival of the fittest - selflessness helps us survive as a community.
Probably the most basic form and definitely the one that most easily comes to mind is financial selflessness. In layman’s terms it can be described as donating money to those who are in need, but it isn’t as cut and dried as you may think. For example, investing in a fortune 500 company is not an act of financial selflessness, yet investing in a nonprofit organization is. Loaning twenty bucks to a friend is not an act of financial selflessness although giving a handful of change to a homeless beggar is. So what is it that distinguishes an act of financial selflessness from a mundane act of generosity? No matter the magnitude of the donation, what makes the act truly selfless is the intention. Only if you don’t expect to receive anything in return are you being completely selfless. Alms-giving is the archetypal example, but other, less acknowledged forms of financial selflessness exist as well, such as, relieving someone from his/her debt without any personal gain or providing financial assistance to a non-profit cause you believe in. In a way these acts provide more than just money for those who don’t have enough. They provide hope for a brighter future. And hope provides the energy to keep climb the ladder of success.
Kitty134:
Thankyou so much this really helped me out
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