I was listening to a song on Youtube and heard a quote by Alan Watts. His words are very popular in the Chillstep genre. He says: "You cannot teach a selfish person to be unselfish by any means. Whatever a selfish person does, whether it be giving his body to be burned or giving all that he possesses to the poor, he will still do it in a selfish way of feeling. He will be able to do this with extreme cunning, a marvelous self deception, and deception of others besides." While this is somewhat true, it is also untrue. That makes no sense at first glance, but let me explain. A truly selfish person will not give away their items to the poor, even if they don’t need them. A truly selfish person would rather throw away their unwanted items before they make an effort to give them away. When you really think about it, every single human being alive is selfish in some way. That is human nature, so it cannot be avoided. A truly selfish person will see someone starving and not give them a dime. But, someone who does not let selfishness define them will give their money to the poor. When you really think about it, yes, it is selfish because they get a sense of joy and feel somewhat complete when they give their money to the less fortunate. They are purely motivated by the good feeling they get from doing something selfless. But, while that is selfish in a sense, it is also unselfish because they are motivated by happiness, not a physical item in return. If people were not motivated by the joy they feel when they do something nice for someone else, then no one would benefit from a single ounce of selflessness. No one would benefit from the kindness of another person. Selflessness is born through the craving of doing what is right, in order to feel happiness. tl;dr - I'm feeling inspired and philosophical today. Let me know what you think. I could be completely wrong about what he is saying. But this is what I'm getting from it.
