Selfishness Categorized

 

If Satan was sitting on your couch in your living room, and you had a conversation, and then he left your house, how would you describe Sa afterwards? I imagine that you would be charmed by this master manipulator, this glib, charming, appealing monster.

 

Let us say that you are a person that walks with God, and your love of the truth has made you able to intuitively read the soul-emitted aura of all humans or beings that you encounter. Based upon this divine gift, and your love of the truth and your willingness to appreciate what is true no matter how unsettling the truth revealed might upset you, you would identify Satan accurately as pure evil, or nearly pure evil: you would probably conclude that Satan was the most selfish being that you have ever encountered, or that has ever existed. You would be unerringly correct that Satan is pure evil, but you would, currently be grievously mistaken in how you translated your feelings of repugnance towards Satan into expressible, intelligible language. How is it that you know the truth about Satan’s nature but are almost completely mistaken is defining Satan as the epitome of self-centeredness, or selfishness.  How to resolve this paradox.

 

You are a Christian, and Christians are altruistic in their ethical outlook, roughly stating that evil is selfishness, and goodness is selflessness and other-directedness.

Your intuition that Satan is pure evil is unimpaired, and Satan is as evil as you sense that Sa is.

 

If you met God the Father, you would have encountered pure goodness, or close to pure goodness, and your unerring intuition that God is good would be so true. But when you label God the Father as the most unselfish Being in the universe, you could not be more mistaken.

 

I am a religious believer, but I roughly adhere to Ayn Rand’s morality that selfishness is goodness and virtue, and that selflessness is vice and sin.

 

I would append to your intuition that Satan is pure evil that Satan is the most unselfish being in the universe.

 

I would redirect your adjectival description of God the Father, that you commune with, love and communicate with: I would describe De as very selfish, or more appealingly described, exhibiting and existing in a mode of extreme but self-and-other loving self-interest.

 

The principle of moderation is a bedrock principle that applies to all things, existing or not existing. To say that virtue is selfishness is admitting that one’s self-interest is the primary but not exclusive or immoderate life focus. Some regard for the welfare and needs of others is part of being a good person, but it is a secondary emphasis.