So this is my first blog I ever wrote, maybe its not gonna be the last one..
Couple of days ago when I was sitting in a Cafe in Nepal and eating my Dhal Bhat I overheard a conversation from the next table. The woman was ordering 1 beer, followed by the guy (they were a couple I think), but the guy quickly changed his mind when the woman said "1 beer will be enough", with a certainty you dont see very often. Then she started arguing "Why are you Germans always so egoistic. Sharing is caring". And thats where I wanna lead the topic.
I imagined myself beeing the guy to respond to this statement. Probably my answer would have been: "That is some hippy bullshit, there is no such thing as altruistic behaviour". Let me explain why.
For me the situation was obvious. It wasnt about sharing. Whether she didnt want him to drink more beer (men are likely to drink a lot of beer), or she didnt want to spend more money (beer is more expensive than food around here), or she didnt want to drink a whole beer alone, or she had a different kind of view about beer consumption in a cultural way (she was from Brazil) I am not sure. It was probably a mixture of all of them. For me its clear that the "sharing is caring" argument was just the expression of an internalisation of "individualism" which we find quite a lot on postcards and facebook posts with some flowers and butterflies next to it. I dont wanna get to much into this example, because its only scratching the surface.
What I want to say is, that I hardly believe that there is such thing as selfless acting (Which indicated the „sharing is caring“ argument). Everything we do, we do for a reason. The reason for our acting is answered through the individual socialisation such as socio-economical background, education, parenting, cultural surroundings etc.. through our lifetime. Even though if we want to act "selflessly" there is a reason AND an intention behind that. The question lays in the intention. If I see a homeless person on the street and give him money, do I give him some money because I am such a good Person, or do I give him the money that I can say that I am such a good Person? How is it possible to spot the difference? If I would take the homeless Person back to my place, give him shelter and food and help him organizing his life would that be selfless? I am not sure where to draw the line. Still, if everything is an egoistic way of acting we need to make classifications. Some acting is just "less" egoistic than others. I would prefer to classify myself as the "less" egoistic acting person. Needless to say that I rarely share my beer. I like having a full glass. So in the end, was the German guy an egoist, because he wanted his own beer? Was the Brazilian girl an altruist because she wanted to share here beer? I believe both were egoists.
Even though there would be more to write to unravel this mist of contradictions I want to stop for now.
BOTTOM LINE:
Is there a selfless way of acting? Let me know what do you think about that.