chee wrote:I still don't believe anybody actually read the OP.

I read all his stuff, but I hate how he writes/structures his posts.

Skyab23 wrote:you ask why do good and not just please yourself all the time...that's what it's all about. If I give money to a private organization, say Red Cross, I do it because helping other people makes me feel good. Everything you do is for your own benefit.

again you feeling good does not = you being selfish.. there is a world of difference..
a soldier jumping on a grenade to save his mates is NOT out of self interest.. (you might bring up that he is saving his mates
.. but what exactly is that worth to a guy who will become "nothing" in moments?)..
an average person example would be ANYONE who gives to charity, not expecting a thank you or ANY recognition in return..
sure some neurotransmitter in his/her brain might make him/her feel good.. but that doesn't constitute self interest..
charity is NOT given for the incentive of getting euphoria or mental high afterwards..

everything that you do is NOT for your own benefit..
if you find a wallet full of money that you can use to buy whatever your self interest is, and instead of spending on yourself
you find the owner and return it to him/her you are NOT going after self interest..
if you actually rationalize the situation, the owner lost his/her wallet due to their own carelessness.. and spending that money
on yourself is FAR more useful than dopamine rewarding your synapses..

a truly selfless deed is done blindly (with no clue of a pleasure that awaits you).. with no incentive..
such deeds only give you pleasure AFTER you have actually committed to an action..

Skyab23 wrote:Everything you do is out of self-interest, yet that self-interest can also benefit others, such as smiling at someone, making their day better, while also making you feel good as well.

self interest is inherent in viruses and many parasites.. they cannot survive without hosts..
me eating a meal might be benefiting some parasite in my intestines..
but without me or anyone else as the parasite's host, the parasite CANNOT survive
you have to transcend self to survive as a group.. if everyone went after their own self-interest as you
are indicating.. life would not survive

why is that?

Doing things to make yourself feel good is selfish. If I were to smile at someone because it makes me FEEL good for spreading good around is selfishness that benefits others. If it's because I'm in a good mood, it's just that, because I'm in a good mood. If I wasn't in a good mood, I wouldn't be smiling at others.
typical selfishness is me taking the largest cookie. Selfishness that benefits others is letting someone else take the last cookie, just so they could tell me "thanks, you're so kind" so I feel good about myself (so I can feel good, about spreading good). There's my reward for not being selfish. True selflessness (which I believe some people have) isn't rewarding for how people feel about themselves. Have you ever wanted someone to succeed to the point where you don't care about your own success? I'm not talking fathers fulfilling their dreams through their kids, because they sucked ass at baseball. There are some people out there that would die for people, because they have alot of respect and love for that person.

Not everyone is a selfless person deep down, or a selfish person deep down either...to say either one is making a faith-based statement. Then again, I guess what I just said is a faith-based statement.

Something unrelated: existential nihilism has the potential to be brutal when you have a mental illness like schizophrenia or schizo-affective.

SantomTheWhite wrote: Something unrelated: existential nihilism has the potential to be brutal when you have a mental illness like schizophrenia or schizo-affective.

true.. disordered thoughts, delusional thinking, auditory hallucinations.. now imagine all that inclining you towards
doing whatever.. making you believe that there is no actual worth to anything

that shi cray..