The Roots of Selflessness

Give me an example of that situation.

I can’t see there being a ‘good deed’ in existance that is not ultimately self serving.

But I’m listening…

This shows a practical perspective in the act of requesting a specific example.

To be honest I can think of zero examples in which an individual does an action that produces a benefit for another and absolutely zero benefit for the individual doing the action.

At second glance the idea of a person who does an action that benefits another and which they feel apathetic about seems creepy.

Again:
Does any experience of pleasure by an individual invalidate the intention of altruistic action?

what a wonderful question. I really just wanted to say that I’m glad this point was brought up. now that I’ve gotten that out of the way…

upon a quick analysis of my through process when approaching a homeless individual I come up with a series of emotions. in order they are:

-repulsion, for obvious reasons, well, hopefully not obvious as I wouldn’t want people to think that way.
-fear, that the individual is a danger, but also fear due to feeling singled out and put on the spot to react. others are around me and seeing my actions.
-empathy, I have trained myself to look past their guise. perhaps as a tool for social reinforcement, survival of the species. taking pity on the weak to make the weakest link stronger. this could be enforced through our innate want for social acceptance, society encourages us to be compassionate for we are all in bad circumstances now and again. a self-maintaining mass.
-love due to fear, giving out of empathy and understanding, understanding and empathy out of social pressure, social pressure for survival of species wherein it is necessary to overcome weakness time to time.

hopefully I have brought a more thoroughly outline for one type of “selfless act” and more can be derived from it in the future. for now it would appear that a person is a hand which puts a bandaid on it’s bodies other hand to heal the whole. hope that makes sense :slight_smile: .