Repost : Be Altruistic, Be Gandhian … or Be Happy

This is some wierd discussion I started back in my blog and thought this can be passed on here too.

Be Altruistic, Be Gandhian … or Be Happy

I strongly take sides with the Philosophers who support egoism. I would like to argue that altruism is a degree of lack of self-respect in individuals. Any individual or group or a society with a certain degree of self-respect will not believe that they are obligated to serve others more than themselves.

Religious philosophers in Hinduism will counter argue that altruism is directly linked to karma. Their arguments will be based on the fact that acts that you perform today add up to your karma calculations and will take effect either in the next cycle of when those karma takes effect, usually assumed to be in the next birth although “kaliyug” theories argue otherwise.

But I feel the foundation of altruism itself is stupid. It is like asking someone to shed and sacrifice the respect he has got for his life, for his soul, for himself and then go on and serve the other in respect to the supposed obligations he/she has towards everything else other than himself/herself.

If such fictitious obligations do exist then how could they supersede the commitments that one has to his/her own life.

Forget Buddha, forget Gandhi – the torch bearers of selflessness. Selflessness is not cool. To me, its not even a word. Better call it, “lack of self-respect”.

Be selfish, justify your existence.