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Please note that the text below was written by the feeling-being ‘Peter’ while ‘he’ lived in a pragmatic
(methodological), still-in-control/same-way-of-being Virtual Freedom before becoming actually free. |
Altruism
Altruism: Regard for others as a principle
of action; unselfishness. Oxford Dictionary.
Peter: This quality needs to be put under the microscope,
examined carefully and fully understood lest one confuses it with blind instinctual passions and senseless societal values.
The instinct to nurture relentlessly drives many people to sacrifice their lives
for offspring or family, only to feel resentment at the sacrifice. This is understandable for this self-sacrifice is a driven, automatic
reaction, not a freely undertaken action.
The moral and ethical rules of society demand of its flock, as a principle, that
they make certain sacrifices for the common good and enforce these rules by carrot and stick. Praise, acclaim and even adulation are showered
on the overt do-gooders while those who err towards what is deemed bad and unacceptable are controlled by condemnation, ostracism, laws,
lawyers, police and jails.
Thus one is either blindly driven, or forced ‘as a
principle’ to sacrifice one’s life, for the good of others. One is neither naturally, as in genetic/ instinctually, free nor
does one feel free within the applied restrictions of one’s tribal group. There is, however, ample evidence within the human species of acts
of altruism that are neither blindly driven nor self-seeking of an earthly or heavenly reward. Many are spontaneous acts, such as those who
risk their lives to save another or undertake unsolicited and impromptu acts of consideration for others – benevolence in action.
On the path to Actual Freedom it is this quality of altruism, or benevolence in
action, that readily becomes more and more evident in one’s thoughts, behaviour and actions. This quality is startlingly different from the
spiritual love and compassion – ‘I am God acting for the good of others less fortunate’ – and from being a goody-two-shoes in normal
society with its subsequent rewards. Benevolence in action is free and spontaneous – there is nothing in it for ‘me’ at all, in fact, it
only happens when ‘I’ am absent. However one can be observant of it happening and, in seeing its ‘self’-less purity and perfection,
energize this quality of altruism to initiate the process of self-immolation in oneself.
The path to Actual Freedom is not at all attractive for there is nothing in it for ‘me’ – no
phoenix arises from the ashes to claim the glory, no acclaim of adoring disciples, no wonderful overwhelming feelings, no fame, no recognition,
no power – neither overt nor covert. Extinction is extinction. It is for this very reason that one needs a goodly dose of altruism.
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