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In Praise of Selfishness

Dear friend,

A recent thought I had: in order to empower others, you must (first) be selfish.


Empower yourself before empowering others

Let me explain my reasoning.

First of all, before you help others, you must first help yourself. How do you expect to empower others and uplift others if you first don’t empower yourself?

A lot of us (myself included) let ourselves be miserable. We feel guilty/evil/wrong to help ourselves. I think if you’ve been raised Christian, Asian Confucian, or your family has Jewish, Protestant, English roots, you can relate.

In many societies to help yourself (the individual) is seen as antisocial and evil. Why? Of course it’s in the best interest of society, your local community, and your tribe to first take care of the collective. Whenever the individual favors him or herself, the collective feels threatened. Thus we have been trained/indoctrinated ever since we’ve been children that being selfish and self-focused is bad/”evil”.

For myself, I feel my ultimate purpose in life is to empower others and all of humanity (and future generations of humanity). However that’s only my imperative; you shouldn’t feel pressured to follow the same code of ethics as myself. You must dictate your own purpose in life.


Find the time to reflect on what you desire out of life

The sad thing is that so many of us are so busy with work, living, and our families/jobs/duties/obligations that we never have the opportunity or energy to ask ourselves, “What do I want out of life? What do I want to accomplish in life while I’m still alive? What do I think is my purpose in my life, and what do I wish to devote my life to?” Too often than not, we blindly follow the rules/morals/ethics of society, the whims of our parents and family, rather than challenging them.


Being selfish isn’t evil.

To conclude, don’t feel bad, guilty, or” sinful” by being selfish, self-centered, or self-focused. It’s not bad to be selfish.

If you want to be altruistic towards society and humanity, first seek to empower yourself. Be very selfish in that regard.

Ways to be selfish in a positive way:

  1. Prioritize your own mental and physical health before helping your family, friends, or others. For myself, I must exercise, go to the gym, go on long walks alone, take photos for myself, read, write, make videos, and do creative work. Even if I have some business duties to do or even needing to help Cindy or my family, I first prioritize myself. Because if I first take care of myself, then I will have the positivity, energy, and power to help Cindy, my family, and community.
  2. Ruthlessly cut and prune away negative people from your life: It doesn’t matter if they’re “friends”, family, or even your job/boss. You must make it your imperative to get rid of all cancerous, negative, and toxic people from your life. I did this with my dad, and I’ve been much happier and productive ever since. And now that I’m in a better mental state after cutting my dad from my life, I’ve been able to be a better husband to Cindy, and friend to all of humanity.
  3. Empower yourself with the tools, equipment, food, coffee and things which are necessary for you to be productive and create what you desire. Don’t worry about being “wasteful” or “imprudent”. For example, some of us (myself included) feel guilty spending money on ourselves, even if it may improve our lives, because we feel that by spending money on ourselves, we are somehow hurting our family by having less money to spend on them.

Further reading on why we think being selfish is “evil”

To learn and understand more about the virtues of selfishness, I recommend reading:

  • The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
  • Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche
  • On the Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche
  • The Antichrist by Nietzsche

BE STRONG,
ERIC


Philosophy

Find more meaning and purpose in your life:

  • Why You Must Be a YAY-SAYER to Succeed in Entrepreneurship and Life
  • Why I Love Walking
  • Live Life Like a Video Game!
  • Simple Luxuries in Life
  • Treat Your Life Like a Fun Experiment!
  • Only Prove it to Yourself
  • You Don’t Always Need to Feel Joyful to Live a Fulfilling and Meaningful Life
  • Life is Too Short to Be Bored!
  • Money Cannot Destroy Boredom
  • How to Find Inspiration in Life
  • Why You Must Ignore Haters to Succeed and Win in Life
  • An Active Life is a Happy Life
  • My Simple Joys in Life
  • Never Stop Striving
  • How to Motivate Yourself in Life
  • How to Be Optimistic in Life
  • How to Dictate Your Purpose in Life
  • In Praise of a Dynamic Life
  • PURPOSE.
  • How to Enjoy Life
  • Photography Therapy
  • How to Conquer Regret
  • Take Your Play Very Seriously.
  • How to Prosper
  • Memento Vivere
  • Destroy in Order to CREATE
  • Trust Your Body More Than Your Mind
  • Make Photos to Make Meaning in Your Life
  • Seek Knowledge, Not Information
  • The Purpose of Human Life
  • How to Overcome Impedence
  • Why I Love Death
  • How to Be Centered in the Eternal Now
  • How to Be Happy
  • Why Do You Care What Others Think of You?
  • Why I’m Happy
  • Why?
  • Why I’m So Prolific
  • How to Reduce LAG in Life

Personal Philosophy »

  • You Are the Light of the World
  • Your Soul is a Diamond in the Rough
  • Why Live?

Stoicism »

  • How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
  • How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
  • How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance

Zen Philosophy »

  • How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
  • Zen in the Art of Street Photography
  • How to Find Tranquility in Your Photography

Life Lessons »

  • How to Conquer Your Fears in Life
  • Conquer Yourself
  • How to Focus

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