Why Are We So Concerned With Ourselves?
There is a need to discuss the dastardly hyperfixation on the self in modern culture. Though it may seem normal to us nowadays, I would argue that such a concentrated focus on one’s needs, beliefs, and desires may actually be quite pathological. Furthermore, I think this phenomenon is intimately connected with the outright disregard people express for the opinions and ideas of others. For, in overvaluing ourselves, we devalue others.
Let us think about the picture for a second: on the left side of the scale there exists, in all its glory, what I would call ‘rational self-interest’, while on the right side there are abstract ‘goods’ like honor, virtue, justice, and so on. The significance of this picture is such that, if we value self-interest too much, we’ll disregard the many goods that make up a well-constituted person. There is a degree to which self-interest is necessary, but the picture indicates an unequal distribution, wherein the scale isn’t balanced. The more a person prioritizes purely self-serving goods, the more difficulty they may have in understanding the higher, all-encompassing good.
You are part of something which gave you life.
Perhaps it is intuitive to say something like “we are the most immediate thing worth preserving”, but such reasoning disregards our inherent connection to nature, to humankind, to the preservation of good values. One can also try and ask, “why should I care about my fellow person?”, but such reasoning is extremely cynical. If you don’t care about your fellow person, why should they care about you? And this would go on ad infinitum, to the point where everyone becomes equally indifferent and cynical. Therefore, the implication of extreme self-interest is one of societal and cultural decay, attributed to a lack of concern with the whole. *Life means much more if we feel connected to it.*
I often notice what I think to be a perversion of values, wherein self-interested people do nothing to encourage healthy social structures. All you have to do is think of the people who only ever indulge in pleasures, people, experiences, without regard for how they affect others; think of those who, with their terrible life decisions or temperament, whip others with their displeasure; think of those who are always using people for their own favor; think of those who never understand how you feel; finally, think of those who are prone to hate, cynicism, resentment, and ideological subversion, and do your best to
AVOID ALL THESE SORTS OF PEOPLE.
The matter is not just about self-interest, but thinking about oneself as well — narcissism, self-pitying, and moralism are all really unhelpful behavioral patterns, and they make any life seem miserable. It is not even a good idea to be friends with people who have those tendencies — the danger of associating with them is that you pick up their attitudes, some of which can be extremely damaging. We do not want to get lost in the infinitude of dramas and mental loops that come from self-obsessed and self-destructive people.
And what about us?
Aren’t we also overly concerned with ourselves? All these mental shackles and attachments, these weights upon the soul… are they truly necessary?
One can live a great life whether or not they have self-interest. That is not the point of this writing. However, I think that the person who thinks about their self-interest, carefully monitoring it, is much more conscientious. A person who observes their patterns of self-delusion can be very much wiser than a smarter person who doesn’t. If my core presuppositions about myself are wrong, then I am not a trustworthy source of information when describing myself. Though that seems obvious, people will tell you all sorts of things about themselves that lack specificity or attention to detail.
That is the point I’m hoping to make — we must take much more than ourselves into consideration. We are part of a much larger organism.
Thank you.
