Selfishness

SELFISHNESS Definition: Selfish + -ness

Selfishness may begin with the thought, ‘As long as my country is benefited, that benefits me;’ and then it will narrow down to, ‘If my family is benefited, if we become wealthy and have desirable things, that is sufficient for the present!’ And then it narrows down again, ‘For my father, or mother, or wife or children,’ until it ends in, ‘Nothing matters as long as I am happy myself.’ Man has now become cold, ignorant, and blind to the law that life depends on the happiness of those with whom we live. The whole of life is one. In all these different names and manifestations life is one. The true thought is, ‘If my wife is not happy, if my children, my neighbors, my servants are not happy, how can I ever be happy?’ by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VII/VII_23.htm

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” –  Oscar Wilde

Build an economic basis under your life, but don’t get caught in the rat-trap of money-making as a profession; that too, like sex, can be a consuming fever, and brings only fitful pleasures, no lasting happiness. Your wife will have the responsibility of stimulating you to develop all your creative capacities; but I hope she will not prod you into keeping up with all the Joneses in the town. If you become an employer your relation with your employees is more important than adding a zero to your wealth. Give every employee the full equivalent of his share in the product. Don’t live in a boastful luxury based on taking more from the world than you give. ~ Will Durant