Theos-Talk Archives (October 2011 Message tt00095)

M. Sufilight wrote:

>Dear Tom and friends
>
>My views are:
>
>Here is a short answer.
>
>Altruism is defined in many dictionaries.
>My ordinary definition runs like this: Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. 
>
>Altruism 
>(The opposite of Selfishness.)
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism
>
>And Selfishness is also defined in the Wikipedia. You do know what selfishness is do you not? (smile.)

Not necessarily.  It has many aspects to it, some of which I regard as
good.  Isn't eating selfish?  Cheating is also selfish, but one I'd
regard as generally good and the other as generally bad.

>What is altruism to one person is not altruism to another. The whole idea is to find out about what the above definition actual results in - when taken seriously. And how you understand the word and the definition. Se my previous post here at the forum.

I was reading it, but it was a little long for one sitting.  I'll get
back to it later.

I was hoping you would give maybe 5 common examples of situations in
which an altruist and an egotist would behave significantly
differently in a way that would make the altruist look obviously
superior, spiritually, to the egotist.

>- - -
>I do not hope you begin to ask me about what the planet Earth is. Smile.

If, by that, you mean that the difference between altruism and
selfishness is necessarily clear, with one clearly always being good
and the other clearly always being bad, I might have to ask you what
Earth is!