Many traditions teach that we are happiest when we have a purpose for living. Often that purpose is in some way serving another. Giving our life to another could be serving our family. I believe serving the family is one of the oldest acts of devotion. Much of human and dog behavior can be traced to our evolutionary development to serve the family.
Moving from the parental family to building a new family unit requires some degree of selflessness. It’s difficult to maintain a family relationship if the heads of the family aren’t willing to give up something for the others. This is true for a family with children and for couples. It’s a matter of accepting others for who they are. If you cannot accept the other individual or their behavior it’s best to never enter into a family type relationship. Children are a different matter. We must accept our children and nurture their individual talents without forcing our unsound preferences upon them. Children must be guided with understanding.
I think many divorces are caused by personal selfishness. If it’s difficult for one person to live for another how much more difficult is it for two people to live for each other.
The first ten years of the Twenty first Century has seen selfishness destroy world markets and as of this writing perhaps an entire sea. Selfishness is one of the more primitive human traits, it’s part of our animal nature. If not controlled selfishness will contribute to the downfall of humanity.
How can selfishness contribute to the demise of humanity? Selfishness will increase environmental stressors. When the human species is stressed people and nations will become more competitive. Extreme competition and insufficient resources combined with nationalism with lead to hatred which will lead to war. A war of hatred will lead to using weapons of mass destruction. Not a very rosy picture, but it can be prevented.
Getting back to our day to day lives and how other’s selfishness may affect you. Both a lack of resources and an over abundance allows personal selfishness to have precedence over serving others. There are some good things about material selfishness. One is that it can increase individual wealth. Selfishness is based in a trait that had survival value. The down side is that always thinking about only what we can get for ourselves can create a rather harsh emotional landscape. For those with a great deal of power these turbulent emotions bleed over into the lives of others. When the one who has control is in a foul mood the emotions of the group are similarly contaminated. This leads to a culture of unhealthy selfish competition. When we are willing to go out of our way to harm others for personal gain we are marching toward the evil side of humanity.
Form the RenChenZa® 7 steps for personal development “For most people it requires self cultivation to be highly considerate of others without being manipulative.” Andrew Ledford © 2000 –2009
Wishing you the very best in dogs and in life,
Andrew Ledford