One of today’s fallacies regarding selfishness is that one has to be strong to live a selfish existence. In fact, the opposite is true. Selfishness is often confused with altruism, which couldn’t be more different.

In life we are taught that in order to love another, one must first learn to love one’s self. That is selfishness. Selfishness the individual pursuit of happiness while living for one’s self under the blessings and banner of individual liberty. The more one knows about one’s self, and the more one believes one’s self to be good; the more one has the capacity to give and share with others. It is also more likely that gifts given, such as friendship, loyalty, respect and love will be enduring, because they were so freely and confidently given.

Altruism, on the other hand, holds that one must sacrifice himself to others — that service to others is the moral justification of one’s life. If this is the case, then it doesn’t matter if you know or like yourself, for you are unimportant. You are merely a vessel to serve, to make others important or better off.

Of course, this latter viewpoint explained is totally irrational, but that is what altruism brings and demands. Instead of pursuing dreams and living your life to the fullest, altruism demands that you wait for others to give you what you want or need. Your job is to give them what they want or need. You must sacrifice to them as they, in turn, must sacrifice to you.

Altruism is clearly evil. It distorts reality by demanding irrationality from a rational mind. The proof is found by simply looking around. Most people, today, live in chronic misery and mental anguish. The feel as though they have no control over their own existence. Some are so far gone that they deliberately end their lives physically. Other, no so far gone, end their lives psychologically by accepting their role as martyr and giving what’s left of them away until they have no choice but to sit catatonically, drained of every ounce of life’s mental energy ~ a shell without a purpose.

Rational self-interest, on the other hands, not only allows you to discover and improve yourself, but it allows others to see and appreciate you for what you are, not for what others think you should be. It gives you control over your own life; so there is no need to even try to control the lives of others. You are free to pursue that which interests you in the professions, in love, in parenthood, in everything. You are the only person who can hold you back, and all the while, you are free to give of yourself to whomever or whatever you please, by choice as opposed to force or mob rule.

Being selfish (rational) is easy; it’s much harder to live with the evil of altruism, mostly because you relinquish control of the self. This is an existential choice because without being able to keep control of your own body, mind and actions, you have already lost your life. You may not understand that, but you know something is not right just as a result of feeling so miserable and unfulfilled.

Have a wondrous week!