ANSWERS: 14
  • When there is just one lima bean left.
  • When you have the bubonic plague?
  • When you live in a capitalist society that thrives on the drive to obtain personal wealth and glory. Also, when the thing you're taking is something that's abundant. Like being selfish about your oxygen. You can hoard that, nobody will care.
  • after he's beat you in front of the kids for the 500th time... so you drain the bank account, change your name & take the babies to another state.
  • Always. If the human race wasn't inherently selfish, we would have been extinct long ago. While we often assert that we put the needs and feelings of others above our own, we rarely - if ever- truly do.
  • When it comes to my man. Sorry I'm not sharing.
  • When undeserving people want your stuff TOO BADLY. Sharing your stuff with the indigent and needy is one thing, but letting greedy people deplete your possessions is not good for anyone. You have a right to disperse your wealth as you see fit and not under coercion. This is not actually being greedy because you are the steward of your possessions and entitled to direct them as you choose.
  • When you are the one taking out the fresh hot brownies from the oven?
  • Perhaps I lack imagination but I cannot think of a single circumstance in which putting yourself first is better than being concerned with others! :(
  • An Essay: "Selfishness Is The Highest Form Of Cooperation" by ©M Moon My beloved and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this year: a truth filled, celebratory testament to our discovery and actual practice with belief systems and personal actions that work! Further, we actually feel and act as if we are still on our honeymoon! We truly consider it a pure privilege to be allowed to love someone else, let alone be loved by them. Many people over the years have asked, 'HOW do you guys do it?!! How can you still be so in love, so active - independently and together - with so much faith, trust and success? Heck! You guys never even argue!' Truth is, none of us really “need” to be in a relationship. We all have learned that a person can function without one. That said, one must be clear in thought, word and deed within a relationship, with no mixed messages or surprises later, especially 'early on' when considering a life mate. Life has a way of delivering its own challenges. It is true that everyone thinks they know HOW to cooperate! Beloved and I marveled, that IF this was true ... why then were there so many divorces? So many unhappy individuals within a relationship? Early into those first days of dating, when beloved and I looked around and witnessed how some couples could misbehave in their treatment of each other, plus then acknowledging the statistics for divorce rates in this country, we intuitively knew somehow, something about their actions together and their individual consequential understanding about and within “cooperation” together was missing! What could we learn? What could we do? It was then that we decided to pretend neither of us understood what the word “cooperation” meant, in any thought form, word or deed. Two weeks into dating, we decided we would commit ourselves to the literal study of “The Meaning Of Cooperation! Consciously, just as other couples do activities together, including but not limited to, family events, sports, movies, dining out, and the like, we committed our studying together as a thing we would do as a couple. (Note: We still continue this couple study to this date!) Its been an incredible, interesting journey together: researching and discussing “cooperation” all these years. Of course, on our quest, it was not the research per se that was so important. Importance lay in discovering ways of cooperating together that could be implemented into our daily lives! What did we learn from study? What became our relationship motto? “Selfishness Is The Highest Form Of Cooperation!” Very basically this means, “If you do only that which makes you personally content, fulfilled and successful as a person ... we all bask in your sunshine! If, on the other hand, you do that which doesn't make you content, fulfilled and successful as a person ... we all “pay,” more importantly you! IMPORTANT NOTE: It is extremely important for all to not confuse the word “selfish” with being “self-centered.” ANYONE who functions from this point is only and purely indulgent and self-serving. These inappropriate, unhappy individuals erroneously believe the world only revolves around them, and usually function like the world owes them a living! More often than not, their actions demonstrate what they believe is their entitlement to everyone and anything! This is completely and totally "NOT ALLOWED BEHAVIOR!" For everyone. For any reason. Some of our 'Selishness ... means' motto definitions follow here: • Selfishness makes an individual responsible, not others, for having their needs, wants and desires met. • Selfishness has no longer the need to wish, hope, or dream that someone will take care [of me,] It is my responsibility to do so. • Selfishness can act with others without concern about who is taking care of [my] best interests. It is my responsibility to do so. • Selfishness is willing and ready to work. [I do] not require finance, attention, entanglements or drama to be alive and interesting nor to provide for my own. • Selfishness can replenish [myself] so that other people or situations may not deplete me in any way. I am responsible for my own mental and physical health care. • Selfishness is the foundation of [my] own healthy self-esteem and self-doing. • Selfishness takes care of [myself], without finding emptiness, dislike, blame, hate, anger or resentment. • Selfishness understands that it is not [my] right or job to change any one else, or request that they do so for or on my behalf. [It is a myth that anyone actually can.] • Selfishness receives willingly and deservedly [as I] recognize the joy of giving comes from an inner knowledge of my worth, allowing my choice of generosity to come from my own personal decisions without any 'outside' agenda or 'need' for repricosity. • Selfishness brings right-mindedness, respect, and purpose, preventing any personal thoughts, words or actions from becoming or behaving like a martyr which breeds guilt, pity, and contempt. Martyrdom, in any form, by me or others in [my] life is ill-placed altruism. • Selfishness perceives correctly, preventing the need to look outside for protection. Protection only comes from personal strength and courage within. • Selfishness honors [one’s] own choices, lending one's mind, words, and actions to be free from comparison or contest with others. • Selfishness embraces each human being's right to make their own individual decisions; to be their own free agent, reaching attainment toward their own personal best. • Selfishness acts judiciously, preventing blame and injustice. • Selfishness is peaceful thinking and living, preventing unrealistic dreams of a utopia that seems that will "arrive someday." Correct living is now. • Selfishness does not presume to understand another and does not mind read, second guess, or "play games." Coexistent points-of-view does not mean that another must agree, accept or even acknowledge my own reality. Each person is respected and thus honored by trusting [them] to do what is correct, even when seeming or appearing misunderstood, misinterpreted, or not in agreement. • Selfishness understands one must respect others as separate from them, responsible individuals who deserve their own best life as they see fit. • Selfishness can be entrusted to attend to the well-being of others by choice. • Selfishness finds complete happiness in the success of others. • Selfishness embraces the human experience with empathy. We all can encourage and celebrate each human condition. Everyone has loss someone or some thing. Everyone has gained someone or some thing. Without understanding ourselves, our truthful experiences as our own realities, as responsible and individual human beings may make it impossible to "stand in another's shoes" without first standing in our own! Truth is everything! LAST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: “AM I the person I would want to marry?” Be able to answer “yes” to that question. After all, it is only fair! : “I MUST BE ABLE TO GIVE WHAT I WANT!” This is not altruistic. It is in one's own interest to attend and create their own best elements and behaviors as a human being so they attract equal and like-kind.
  • True Self-ishness always leads to joy, because it is motivated always by the desire to feel as good as possible. It is only when we are Self-ish enough to be, do and act in accordance with our desires (not someone else’s) that it is possible to stay balanced. Energetically speaking, a desire is a rush of life force energy, a connection to the divine inner self, which can never result in actions that are harmful. It is only when true desires are blocked that they become twisted and ugly. This statement goes against the common wisdom that human nature is greedy, violent and primitive. Human nature is precisely the opposite: we are born knowing ourselves as powerful, eternal, spiritual beings. Petty, competitive, churlish and violent behavior must be overcome with suitable practice. Observe your family, friends and coworkers. Almost all of them are good people, trying to do the best they can. It would simply not be possible to build a sophisticated society if human nature was so base. All successful societies are based upon cooperation, not competition. Competition works not because it is adversarial, but because it inspires teamwork. Ask two angry guys to get something constructive done, it is not going to happen. All success is based upon cooperation. That is because we live in an attraction based universe. These natural impulses are supposed to be dangerous because they stem from a primitive survival instinct. But human being has a better mind than animals. Just look around at the mess the world is in! But that is a delusional assertion, a denial of the basic nature of consciousness itself. The natural impulses of human nature stem from a connection to life force, and it is resistance to this divine impulse which causes the selfish behavior people object to. If you observe people you will quickly see that those persons who are most alive are full of desire, and those who look lifeless have little or no desire. Desire = life force. Shut off desire = selfish behavior. It's ironic that selfish behavior actually results from self-denial. Human nature is not a primitive, biological instinct based on survival of the fittest, it’s a pure connection to source energy. It is divine. It's only when that connection is closed off that selfish behavior is demonstrated. Every one of your desires is, in its non-resisted state, joyful and balanced, because that is an inherent property of consciousness itself. True selfishness is allowance of desire, without resistance, and results in the impulse to give freely to others. But it is first necessary to allow that impulse within yourself. http://kjmaclean.com/Selfishness.html True selfishness comes from the inner voice. It is nobler than ideas generated by conscious mind. It raises the psyche and Self to a higher and nobler level. It speaks of what you are as soul.
  • When it involves the safety of yourself and your children.
  • When it involves your physical safety.
  • In China there are two definitions for Selfish. 1. Hoarding, Greedy, (cruel) and the second definition 2. Doing what in the end is best for you Here we have learned that being selfish is all of these things combined. I have learned to seperate the two, In the end, there are times when you have to do what is best for you, And in my eyes, that is most of the time a good thing :)

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy