What is healthy egoism? That's what we’ll talk about in our article. We are all a priori born selfish. Only in the process of formation and development does this character trait in all people acquire its own colors.
What are they selfish?
Egoism is a character trait thanks to which a person achieves his goals, but at the same time he puts his interests above all else, without thinking about how much it will cost others. The egoist will never engage in business from which he will not receive benefits. The moral of serving his neighbor is alien to him. Self-love comes first. Egoists are unable to empathize, do not have empathy and diplomacy.
As a rule, such people are too confident in themselves. When they set a task, they achieve it at any cost, using all means, and at the same time they want everything at once. Therefore, if a child has this character trait, the main thing is to direct this powerful energy in the right direction. To teach him the moral and ethical principles by which he will achieve his goals without causing harm to other people. In this way, a strong purposeful personality can be raised. This is for egocentrism. Let's talk about healthy egoism.
Let's plunge a little into history
It is believed that the term "egoism" was adopted in the Enlightenment. But if you dig deeper, you can see that already in Ancient Greece, the thinkers Epicurus and Aristippus actively used it, interpreting life as a desire to satisfy needs, as a chance to protect oneself from unpleasant sensations. According to this theory, morality recognized everything that gave joyful emotions. And only in the VIII century did the term “egoism” and the concept of healthy egoism appear.
The Age of Enlightenment gives us a different morality that preaches the correct understanding of their interests. A healthy egoist has a sense of self-preservation, individualism, and correctly sets up life accents. Personal interests are also a priority, but at the same time he is able to compromise, respects the rights of others, achieves the goal without harming anyone.
So what is healthy egoism? The definition of this concept is quite simple and understandable. So...
Definition of a concept. Is it bad to be selfish?
This ability to solve problems without infringing on the rights and dignity of other people, not allowing to affect personal values and priorities.
People with this trait know their worth, but don’t lift their nose, don’t ask for praise, and don’t want to be recognized quickly. Holders of unhealthy egoism, on the contrary, require worship, humiliating other people, go over their heads.
Healthy egoism is inherent only in psychologically healthy people. Let's look at its advantages. He helps:
- to send talents in the right direction;
- keep yourself in control;
- to defend interests and desires;
- to distinguish lies from truth, deceit from love;
- restrain emotions;
- achieve goals without wasting yourself;
- maintain composure in a critical situation;
- comprehend the peaks, go on a feat, not fearing anything.
As you can see, only virtues are characteristic of him. The question automatically matures: is healthy egoism useful? Let's talk about it.
Signs of reasonable selfishness
A healthy egoist has the following distinguishing features:
- He can calmly refuse if something contradicts his views, does not coincide with his interests.
- He will stand to the end, defending opinion, but not with the goal of stubbornness, but only relying on his convictions and a balanced and reasoned point of view. But it can compromise.
- He speaks directly, but does not try to impose his opinion.
- Not amenable to influence, loves himself for who he is.
- Respectfully refers to the opponent, while not trying to please, he is not interested in the attitude of others to himself.
- She does not feel guilty because of her futility. He will seek to correct the mistake, and if this is not possible, he will draw a lesson from the situation and benefit and move forward.
- Does not cross personal boundaries and requires this in return from others.
This is a characteristic of a healthy egoist.
Talk about the benefits
From birth, parents inspire us that selfishness is bad. But if you look at this word in the right sense, then ... they need to be. Judge for yourself: people who live taking care of all but their own person - are they happy? Of course not. First of all, you need to take care of yourself, love yourself. Consider the qualities that a healthy egoist will gain:
- He will get freedom from the modern society of consumers, from the desire to take everything at someone’s expense. He will not allow himself to be used.
- Will be respected, because it is independent of the opinions of others.
- Rarely it will fall into bad situations, because it thinks soberly and rationally.
- Will take responsibility. Because rational egoists are obligatory people, they keep their word, fulfill the promise.
As a rule, among healthy egoists, more successful people are more common than among altruists. Because they go to the goal, not being distracted by anything. They are charming because they are in harmony with themselves. Because of their impeccability, there is nothing to reproach them with. Therefore, it can be concluded that healthy selfishness is beneficial. We have not convinced you? Then read on!
Arguments for Healthy Egoism
We have already figured out the essence of the term. We give examples of healthy selfishness and arguments in favor of this character trait. So who is such a rational egoist? This is a person who consciously cares first of all about himself, but he is ready to help others if he benefits from this. For example, a rural person will look after a cow, feed it, because it gives him milk. A girl living in the city will show care and attention to her friends, because she needs them, if only because you can have fun and have fun with them.
Here are 5 reasons to support healthy selfishness:
- Work. There are people who are horrified to expect Monday because it is necessary to go on an unloved job. But it takes up most of our lives. If your position does not suit you, set goals, look for different development paths. A healthy egoist loves his job because he loves himself, knows his worth and finds something to his liking. Wherever you work, look for ways to improve yourself and advance. Remember your hobbies, use them to get additional or basic income.
- Money. For labor we get rewards. Work done and professionalism should be paid with dignity. Therefore, do not be shy to ask for a wage increase. And if there are no prospects at this place, you should not be afraid to lose it.
- Personal life. Women dream of an affectionate and gentle man who would carry on his hands, guessing desires. But this is self-deception. At heart, the ladies want a self-sufficient, proud, handsome, athletic physique. To seek it and then suffer from a broken female heart. According to psychologists, we are looking for a partner who will treat us the way we treat ourselves. Due to the lack of healthy egoism, there is a thirst to fill the empty spiritual space with the love of a person who has it in excess of great love for himself.
- Intimate relationship. In this area, healthy egoism is the place. A man feels like a king in bed when he is sure that he will give pleasure to a woman. The poet should not be afraid for the hairstyle, imperfect figure, and so on, and do not need to worry about the sensations of the strong half. You must completely surrender to passion and enjoy the process, thinking about your enjoyment.
- Children. There are many stories that the couple lived together, not loving each other, only for the sake of the children. They created the illusion of a happy marriage. A healthy egoist will break this connection and be happy. He will also never give up his career to raise a child, because you can always find a different solution.
It turns out that the essence of healthy egoism is in love and unity. Then life will be happy.
Here are some more examples.
A friend asked me to borrow a certain amount for two days. But you know very well that he will not return them soon. How to refuse? It is necessary to do this reasonedly: they say, save up for a trip for a child to rest.
Or the boss asked me to stay after work to help make a report, but they won’t pay for it. It is also worth it to correctly refuse, explaining that you have other plans, joint with the family, which cannot be undone and rescheduled.
The subject of egoism is also touched on in literature. True, little attention is paid to healthy egoists, writers more condemn the callousness and indifference of people to others in general, talk about conscience. But Chernyshevsky put forward the theory of “rational egoism”. What is it about?
The theory of “rational egoism” in the novel by G. N. Chernyshevsky “What to do?”
According to the classic, the individual is not able to become successful and successful alone with himself. The grace of both will be determined by the happiness of others. Thus, the theory of rational egoism was to exist in the name of others. The heroes of his work (healthy selfishness - this is their main feature) were united by a common great cause, and therefore their common success will become their source of happiness. The moral principles of the heroes are determined in a single struggle, the desire to satisfy universal interests, which are based on attention and guardianship, the thought of another person.
Chernyshevsky was against selfishness. He believed that the egoist is a freak, and his life is unenviable. His "rational egoists" do not disconnect their benefits and interests with the happiness of others. Lopukhov, who freed Verochka from himself, learning about her feelings for Kirsanov, will later be proud that he made such a noble gesture.
Heroes are contrary to selfishness, individualism, self-interest. The author offers a new teaching in philosophy - materialism. The focus is on an individual who is guided by calculation in order to give up less profit for the sake of getting more. Only then will he gain.
Healthy and unhealthy egoists: is there a big difference?
To summarize, we give one more life example. Take a healthy egoist and unhealthy. Both act in the same way - they present a gift.
A healthy egoist does this consciously, showing what to give himself. That is, he loves to present something and take surprises in return. His position is obvious. He does not hide his self-interest deep in consciousness, but openly demonstrates, voices it. It turns out that a healthy egoist pursues primarily his own interests, and honestly declares this.
But an unhealthy egoist gives and blindly tries to believe that he does it disinterestedly, from the bottom of his heart, and supposedly free of charge. No, he wants to receive such a gift, but he keeps it a secret. If this happens, then everything will be fine, otherwise selfishness will burst out. A person will begin to be offended, freaking out, and will not be able to restrain his anger, thus forcing a person to pay for his “disinterested gift”.
Yes, the unhealthy egoist also pursues the goal of obtaining profit, with the only difference being that it demonstrates that it is not important to him, and at the same time he is proud of his “selfless” service to other people.
What can be concluded from all of the above? You need to stop being ashamed of your inherent egoism. The more you hide from him, the more he will break out in the form of insults, attacks and manipulations in relation to other people. The more distinctly you realize that you are an egoist (and we are all by nature such), the more you will respect the interests and freedom of other people. Conscious healthy egoism is an open path to a right, open, honest relationship between people.