Being: Selfish | Self Centered | Greedy
The thought of this came from the question " If it is so necessary to put our needs above others for a good life, then why it is considered bad in view from other angles ?"
One of my early reaction was "people believes we are living in a zero sum game" and if one has to win , another have to lose. But unfortunately human civilization is built on the "non zero sum game". To succeed ourselves, we have to enable the success of others so that compounding effects comes into play.
One contradictory hypothesis about this is that not many people wish about our success than us as we think. It's not 100% but most people around you will only support you as long as their interest is getting fulfilled. Once you become a threat to their existence they will try to root you out.
If you have people who genuinely support you other than your immediately family then you are in 1% of the population.
Always be wary of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Robert Greene in his book "The 48 Laws of Power" has explained it brilliantly in 1st Chapter : NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER itself.
But then there is also a "layering concept" at play here.
We are told from start that all people are equals, but are they ? No, they aren't .
Here I am not talking about their color or religion or financial statuses, but on their future growth potential, risk appetite and critical/rational thinking.
People generally club themselves into groups based on the following things:
Interests
Thought Processes
Aspirations
Hunger to succeed (though everyone have their own definition of success)
A small experiment :
Right now just do a normal search on any of these, and you will see many articles:
explaining them
their advantages
their disadvantages
how are they are same
how are they different
The main issue is that when we talk about these human psychological notions, they are subjective in nature. They are not objective. There isn't a mathematical interpretation of these which establishes their existence and evolution. And the subjective results are completely dependent on one's rationality and one's rationality is again defined by one's experiences and no matter how similar their environments are, experiences always differs until and unless it is a closed box experiment.
Studying psychological notions is just like the Schrödinger's cat.
It is a very dicey and multifaceted topic as till now since humanity started to evolve, no body has a clear answer and explanation for the following questions:
Is being selfish or self centered or greedy a good thing or bad thing ?
How do one define moderation in being selfish or self centered or greedy ?
How do someone justify their act?
Consequences(Long + Short) of being selfish or self centered or greedy as we live in non-zero sum world?
How can you tell if someone is greedy or selfish or self centered?
What is the borderline between Greed and Selfishness and Self Centeredness?
What is the difference between being selfish and being self centered and how are they different from being greedy?
I don't have the answers for all of these questions as of now. I do have some theories but I doubt their mileage. If you have let me know.
Till then, let's contemplate on it.
Will circle back on it once I have some concrete answers.