Does one have the right to be selfish?

[Winston]

Question:

Does one have the right to be selfish? Why does society act as though one were obligated to be unselfish? It's not possible to force someone to care about others if he doesn't right? Isn't this an unrealistic expectation?

Besides, isn't it wrong to force someone to compromise or sacrifice his interests, life, freedom, resources, needs, etc. for the benefit of others? What if he doesn't want to? Why should he force himself to do something he doesn't want to do? Especially if these "others" don't include his friends or family.

Isn't is self-destructive to be too selfless and only care about others but not about yourself? If so, why doesn't society consider that a bad thing too?

Key point: If everyone wants you to do something that you don't, should you give in, or should you listen to yourself and be selfish? Is one obligated to do something one doesn't want to do, just because everyone else says so?

[lavezzi]

As despicable and backwards as your post is, it is perfectly understandable. We are more dependent on eachother than ever before, yet we're in a system that gives us the illusion we are independent from eachother. The more this system expands, the more separate and different we will feel from eachother, and the less potential we will have to love our fellow beings.

The only way to overcome our current conditioning (which is destroying ourselves and the earth) is by loving eachother, but it is not possible to love eachother until we can love ourselves, and to love ourselves we must know who we truly are and with that that realization - that we are all the same consciousness having different experiences - loving eachother will become effortless. In our current state, we are totally and absolutely misguided about what love is. When we love what we think is another person (their body-mind) we are only attached to how they validate "us" (the false sense of self causing us suffering).

Winston, if you saw and realized who we truly are, even for a second, you would understand the full extent of the insanity we are living under. Look at the US, where people are being refused medical treatment from readily available resources and left to die simply because they had not yet acquired adequate pieces of paper we have been conditioned to interpret with a conceptual meaning. Fetuses are being aborted because the carrier believes they have a "right" not to bring it to term after being conditioned with the concept of ownership and adhering it to another human being. This system is having such a detrimental affect on how we are seeing life and ourselves, more than you could ever imagine.

[FREEDOM1]

Hey lavezzi you shouldnt be too quick to judge by laeblling his post as despicable

Are you the thought police?

Winston is just thinking out loud, which is good to do and more peopel should do it instead of being PC

too many people unconciusly follow a life script thats been programmed into them

yes you can be selfish, many people already are (especially western women), but if
they dont help anyone, do you think anyone will help them back,
i think you have the right to be selfish in the respect that you do what your heart desires, who is the judge of what is right and wrong. at the end of the day if it makes you happy and doesn thurt anyone else, i dont see an issue. I live in Australia which is full of selfish people who dont give a shit, so that how i treat them back - end of story.

[Blue Murder]

I'm selfish. All day, everyday. I'm not going to depend on random insipid twats who don't really have my best interests in mind.

If you think that the world is a utopia, you need not own a computer.

[sushiman]

"What our civilization is busy doing, mainly, is smothering greatness."

-quote from American painter Robert Henri from about 100yr ago.

[Repatriate]

Question:

Does one have the right to be selfish? Why does society act as though one were obligated to be unselfish? It's not possible to force someone to care about others if he doesn't right? Isn't this an unrealistic expectation?

You have the right to behave as you choose so long as it doesn't harm others. Selfishness is fine but it's generally looked down on to neglect your immediate family because they are dependent on you in so many ways. Especially if it concerns small children and the like.

Besides, isn't it wrong to force someone to compromise or sacrifice his interests, life, freedom, resources, needs, etc. for the benefit of others? What if he doesn't want to? Why should he force himself to do something he doesn't want to do? Especially if these "others" don't include his friends or family.

Nothing wrong with this at all and it's only in recent modern times that people have had the "luxury" to be so individualistic and selfish. Just keep in mind that it's still an unnatural state for human beings. By our very nature people are meant to exist in close social contact and maintain communities. Breaking that up and becoming a more selfish society is probably why families and communities are fragmenting. Happiness is directly linked to community and close bonds towards friends and family. This is something that sociologists have actually researched and noted before.
By being selfish you are closing yourself off to people and reducing the level of empathy and bond you have with them.

Isn't is self-destructive to be too selfless and only care about others but not about yourself? If so, why doesn't society consider that a bad thing too?

There's a difference between self sacrifice to the point of giving up your own livelihood/happiness and simply being selfless in sharing what you have to lift everyone up around you. When your family and friends benefit then you tend to benefit in the long run if you have strong bonds with those people and develop a significant level of trust.

[lavezzi]

Hey lavezzi you shouldnt be too quick to judge by laeblling his post as despicable

Are you the thought police?

Winston is just thinking out loud, which is good to do and more peopel should do it instead of being PC

too many people unconciusly follow a life script thats been programmed into them

yes you can be selfish, many people already are (especially western women), but if
they dont help anyone, do you think anyone will help them back,
i think you have the right to be selfish in the respect that you do what your heart desires, who is the judge of what is right and wrong. at the end of the day if it makes you happy and doesn thurt anyone else, i dont see an issue. I live in Australia which is full of selfish people who dont give a shit, so that how i treat them back - end of story.

There's nothing wrong with labeling a negative message as you see it with the intent of conveying a positive one. You have taken my post as a personal attack because you are under the impression that Winston's thoughts are the content of his true identity. In actuality, his thoughts are simply brain-waves moving around in his head which stem from his memory, he is then trying to make sense out of these thoughts using the left side of his brain. Thinking in terms of what actually is, using the right-side of our brains, is how we can allude our programming and see things for what they truly but while still being aware.

Doing anything for the purpose of trying to reach personal fulfillment is following an unconscious script. Simply because Winston's script has by chance turned out somewhat different to the majority of people's does not make him in any way less programmed.

The heart cannot desire anything out of self-interest because the self (as most of us understand it) and the heart are entirely unrelated. Right and wrong is a simple concept: that which ultimately instills love (heart) into another being is right, and that which ultimately instills fear (mind) into another being is wrong.

It may seem like negative messages cannot hurt us, but they do, just not on a conscious level. Every notion our brains conceptualize from the time we are born is affecting us in either a positive or negative way; either they lead us on a path to clarity or confusion. Winston's intent with creating and maintaining this site may well be to deprogram us, but as I see it he is simply reprogramming us and not necessarily in a positive way. The ultimate goal we can have in our lives is to program others only in a way which will guide them to seeing the ultimate truth. The most important singular message one can give is that fear is only an illusion and there is really nothing to be afraid of.

I'm not talking to myself here, I'm trying to help anyone who might sense meaning in what I am saying and be put on the path to accessing what I see as the truth which can save this world from where it's inevitably heading. If the majority of people think I am deluded I will not take offense because there is nothing that is real to take offense with.

[chaste_filipina]

Hey lavezzi you shouldnt be too quick to judge by laeblling his post as despicable

Are you the thought police?

Winston is just thinking out loud, which is good to do and more peopel should do it instead of being PC

too many people unconciusly follow a life script thats been programmed into them

yes you can be selfish, many people already are (especially western women), but if
they dont help anyone, do you think anyone will help them back,
i think you have the right to be selfish in the respect that you do what your heart desires, who is the judge of what is right and wrong. at the end of the day if it makes you happy and doesn thurt anyone else, i dont see an issue. I live in Australia which is full of selfish people who dont give a shit, so that how i treat them back - end of story.

There's nothing wrong with labeling a negative message as you see it with the intent of conveying a positive one. You have taken my post as a personal attack because you are under the impression that Winston's thoughts are the content of his true identity. In actuality, his thoughts are simply brain-waves moving around in his head which stem from his memory, he is then trying to make sense out of these thoughts using the left side of his brain. Thinking in terms of what actually is, using the right-side of our brains, is how we can allude our programming and see things for what they truly but while still being aware.

Doing anything for the purpose of trying to reach personal fulfillment is following an unconscious script. Simply because Winston's script has by chance turned out somewhat different to the majority of people's does not make him in any way less programmed.

The heart cannot desire anything out of self-interest because the self (as most of us understand it) and the heart are entirely unrelated. Right and wrong is a simple concept: that which ultimately instills love (heart) into another being is right, and that which ultimately instills fear (mind) into another being is wrong.

It may seem like negative messages cannot hurt us, but they do, just not on a conscious level. Every notion our brains conceptualize from the time we are born is affecting us in either a positive or negative way; either they lead us on a path to clarity or confusion. Winston's intent with creating and maintaining this site may well be to deprogram us, but as I see it he is simply reprogramming us and not necessarily in a positive way. The ultimate goal we can have in our lives is to program others only in a way which will guide them to seeing the ultimate truth. The most important singular message one can give is that fear is only an illusion and there is really nothing to be afraid of.

I'm not talking to myself here, I'm trying to help anyone who might sense meaning in what I am saying and be put on the path to accessing what I see as the truth which can save this world from where it's inevitably heading. If the majority of people think I am deluded I will not take offense because there is nothing that is real to take offense with.

Thank you for sharing your priceless insight regarding this matter lavezzi