Mokokoma Mokhonoana's Blog: Essays by Mokokoma Mokhonoana - Posts Tagged "altruism"
My Mother is Selfish (And So is Yours)
Apart from the claims which he is fed by religious books, man’s mental capability is arguably the sole feature that is responsible for man being (or, at the least, claiming to be) superior to all living beings. Owing to what he managed to alter because of the latter, man has unashamedly awarded himself a Nobel Prize for some advancement called civilization — a trophy he won through the collaboration of a handful of men’s minds, and, multitudes of men’s hands.
Be that as it may, as powerful as his mind might (have the potential to) be, man’s mind is also a wonderful tool for self-delusion.
Amongst other comforting theories, man fed himself the notion of selflessness. A notion which I find to be nothing but self-deception. A premise is in order.
(A clarification, too, is in order. By selfish I mean, “concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure” — not the other sense which is commonly referred to when the word selfish is used, i.e., “lacking consideration for others.”)
At the core of man’s every single deed, or, lack thereof, hides his pleasure, or, his pain. At the core of every single freedom fighter’s fight, hides the freedom fighter’s wanting his people to be free, not his people’s freedom. At the core of a woman’s every single attempt to have her man dressed “properly,” hides her looking good (in the eyes of their neighbors), not him. At the core of every single rape incident, hides the rapist’s desire for an orgasm or three, or, an erection that got the best of him.
The very same selfishness lies hidden at the core of the real reason (i.e., minus the our sugarcoating the premise that I’m attempting to give a justification for) that we are friends with, say, a humorous person. For we did not — in such a case — become friends with a humorous person merely because they are humorous; we did so solely because they make us laugh.
Friend 1’s relentless praying that friend 2 finally affords (and then, buy) a car is seldom about friend 2’s reaping the fruits reaped by those who their banks saw as worthy of financing a car for. Friend 1 prays relentlessly merely because he wants to have one less person to give a recurring lift to.
When an employer employs an employee, it isn’t because the employer wants to play his part in lowering their country’s unemployment rate. He does so merely because he believes that what the employee demands every four weeks (i.e., a salary) pales when compared to what the employee will make for him every single workday.
When a reader buys a book, he does not really do so to “support” the writer. He does so to appear to have “taste” — like those who bought the book (should the book be on most people’s shelves), or, merely to become smarter or more knowledgeable (should he be of the impression that his reading the book will leave him so).
When an affluent self-conscious twin relentlessly encourages his lookalike to get a job, it isn’t because he likes his twin brother so much that he wants him to be have a few grands; it is merely because he does not like having a broke person, with worn clothes, who looks like him.
Like I asserted, in an essay titled Why We Weep , a widow does not cry simply because her husband left; she cries merely because he left her.
Parents too are not really relentlessly “supportive” because they want their kids to succeed; their relentlessly “supporting” their kids is merely their desperate subconscious attempt to avoid appearing to have bred a failure, or, failures, in the eyes of their peers and/or those of their neighbours.
(Likewise, a “selfless” person is not devoted to others merely because he cares more about other people than himself; he is merely devoted to others because he cares more about other people than himself.)
Side Note: Almost every single reader of this essay read it either because (1) they failed to resist the curiosity that was bred by this essay’s title; (2) they hoped that this essay would inspire a giggle; (3) they thought that my thoughts would make them think, and, as a result, inspire independent thought; or, (4) they merely wanted to “kill time.” Either way, at the core of all the above possible reasons for the reader’s reading this writing, lies the reader, not the writing’s author, or, his at odds with the masses’ opinions.
© Mokokoma Mokhonoana [ mokokoma.com + @mokokoma ]
Be that as it may, as powerful as his mind might (have the potential to) be, man’s mind is also a wonderful tool for self-delusion.
Amongst other comforting theories, man fed himself the notion of selflessness. A notion which I find to be nothing but self-deception. A premise is in order.
A human being is a selfish creature.
(A clarification, too, is in order. By selfish I mean, “concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure” — not the other sense which is commonly referred to when the word selfish is used, i.e., “lacking consideration for others.”)
At the core of man’s every single deed, or, lack thereof, hides his pleasure, or, his pain. At the core of every single freedom fighter’s fight, hides the freedom fighter’s wanting his people to be free, not his people’s freedom. At the core of a woman’s every single attempt to have her man dressed “properly,” hides her looking good (in the eyes of their neighbors), not him. At the core of every single rape incident, hides the rapist’s desire for an orgasm or three, or, an erection that got the best of him.
The very same selfishness lies hidden at the core of the real reason (i.e., minus the our sugarcoating the premise that I’m attempting to give a justification for) that we are friends with, say, a humorous person. For we did not — in such a case — become friends with a humorous person merely because they are humorous; we did so solely because they make us laugh.
Friend 1’s relentless praying that friend 2 finally affords (and then, buy) a car is seldom about friend 2’s reaping the fruits reaped by those who their banks saw as worthy of financing a car for. Friend 1 prays relentlessly merely because he wants to have one less person to give a recurring lift to.
When an employer employs an employee, it isn’t because the employer wants to play his part in lowering their country’s unemployment rate. He does so merely because he believes that what the employee demands every four weeks (i.e., a salary) pales when compared to what the employee will make for him every single workday.
When a woman relentlessly “supports” her man, it isn’t because she wants her man to have an interesting bank balance; she does so merely because she does not want a man with a dull bank balance.
When a reader buys a book, he does not really do so to “support” the writer. He does so to appear to have “taste” — like those who bought the book (should the book be on most people’s shelves), or, merely to become smarter or more knowledgeable (should he be of the impression that his reading the book will leave him so).
When an affluent self-conscious twin relentlessly encourages his lookalike to get a job, it isn’t because he likes his twin brother so much that he wants him to be have a few grands; it is merely because he does not like having a broke person, with worn clothes, who looks like him.
Like I asserted, in an essay titled Why We Weep , a widow does not cry simply because her husband left; she cries merely because he left her.
Parents too are not really relentlessly “supportive” because they want their kids to succeed; their relentlessly “supporting” their kids is merely their desperate subconscious attempt to avoid appearing to have bred a failure, or, failures, in the eyes of their peers and/or those of their neighbours.
(Likewise, a “selfless” person is not devoted to others merely because he cares more about other people than himself; he is merely devoted to others because he cares more about other people than himself.)
Side Note: Almost every single reader of this essay read it either because (1) they failed to resist the curiosity that was bred by this essay’s title; (2) they hoped that this essay would inspire a giggle; (3) they thought that my thoughts would make them think, and, as a result, inspire independent thought; or, (4) they merely wanted to “kill time.” Either way, at the core of all the above possible reasons for the reader’s reading this writing, lies the reader, not the writing’s author, or, his at odds with the masses’ opinions.
© Mokokoma Mokhonoana [ mokokoma.com + @mokokoma ]
Essays by Mokokoma Mokhonoana
(A selection of a few published writings by Mokokoma. For more writings: http://mokokoma.com)
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